The Energy of Science Vale UK - 26 May 2011. Wind Renewable Energy Technology presentation by Jim Halliday (Science and Technology Facilities Council). More details at www.sciencevale.com

1. Wind Energy R&D at
the Energy Research Unit
at the STFC Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory
Jim Halliday

2. • Background to the ERU and UK wind
energy
• Current projects
– Wind SUPERGEN
– PowerPredict
– UKERC

3. Introduction to the
Energy Research Unit
(ERU)
• Research areas : Long track record of
applied research in renewables (esp. wind,
energy storage, solar), hydrogen (systems,
production, and Networking), energy
sustainability
• Near market R&D – use of outdoor test site
- collaboration with industry/HEI partners

4. ERU Test Site

5. Wind Energy – current status
• The wind power capacity installed by the end of 2009 will, in a normal
wind year, produce 4.8% of the EU’s electricity.
• In 2009, for the second year running, more wind power was installed
than any other power generating technology, accounting for 39% of
total new installations.
• Over 10 GW of wind power capacity was installed in 2009 - 23% more
than in 2008.
• In 2009, 2.8% of Europe’s total wind power was offshore.
• 192,000 people in the EU are employed by the wind industry

6. Key areas for wind energy research:
• Improving the design and layout of wind farms.
• Increasing the reliability, accessibility and efficiency of
wind turbines.
• Optimising the maintenance, assembly and installation of
offshore turbines and their substructures.
• Demonstrating large wind turbine prototypes and large,
interconnected offshore wind farms.
• New methods of grid management to allow high levels of
wind power in the system.

7. ERU’s Recent Research

8. Research Industrial
Prof W E Leithead, Strathclyde University AMEC Wind Energy
Prof P J Tavner, Durham University Areva T&D UK Ltd.
Prof A Brown, Manchester University Chell Instruments
Dr A G Dutton, STFC Rutherford Econnect Ltd.
Appleton Laboratory E.ON UK Renewables Ltd.
Dr P Hancock, University of Surrey ESR Network
Prof P Hogg, University of Manchester Garrad Hassan & Partners Ltd.
London HR Wallingford Ltd.
Mr C Mingham, Manchester Metropolitan New & Renewable Energy Centre
University Ltd.
Dr S Watson, Loughborough University ScottishPower Generation Ltd.
Prof S Williamson, Manchester University Smart Fibres Ltd.
Vestas Blades Ltd

9. SUPERGEN Wind
Theme Leader – Structural Loads
and Materials
Supergen Wind objective : To undertake research to
improve the cost-effective reliability & availability of existing
and future large-scale wind turbine systems in the UK
Structural Loads and Materials (1 of 4 Themes)
• Wind turbine component design
• Aerodynamic estimation for operational control
• Active load reduction
• Engineering large wind turbines
RAL working on blade model, new materials, and
“smart” blades

10. SUPERGEN Wind
Highlights of Theme (Structural
Loads and Materials)
• Control improvements to reduce wind turbine loads
• Single and array models produced for turbine wakes
• New composite materials tested to improve blade
strength/lifetime, reduce Radar Cross Section, and
improve lightning performance
• Parametric finite
element blade model
for the assessment of
innovative materials
and “smart” blade
performance

11. SUPERGEN Wind
Phase 2
2010-2014
The offshore wind farm as a power station:
Resource, Reliability, Scaling/Control, Lifetime costs

12. Wind power forecasting
• EPSRC & EU funded
work
• Used daily in EirGrid’s
Dublin Control Room
• Further developed in
second EU project
• =>Spin-out company
• PowerPredict software
• =>Real-time trial

13. Superconducting Turbines > 5MW
Long-Life CryoCooling Critical
Technology gap to be Addressed
Cryogenic Coolers for Superconducting Wind Turbines
Cryox Spinout from MRI-Land
STFC Space Cooler Technology
Fund-Raising for SuperCooler
Planck :
Distance
from Earth:
1,4m km

14. Links
ERU : www.eru.rl.ac.uk
Cryox : http://www.cryox.co.uk/
PowerPredict : http://www.powerpredict.co.uk/

15. UK Energy Research Centre
• Energy Research Atlas – updated
annual Landscape reports, Research
Register, new Roadmaps
• Energy Research Data Centre – point to
existing data sources, curation of
recent data (Research Council, Carbon
Trust smart metering trial

16. Links
UKERC Research Atlas : http://ukerc.rl.ac.uk/ERA001.html
UKERC Energy Data Centre : http://ukedc.rl.ac.uk/index.html