Cyber power to increase efficiency of wind energy production

A €2m High Performance Computing (HPC) project between Europe and Brazil will explore the optimisation of wind power using novel algorithms.
Georgina Hines

The High Performance Computing for Wind Energy (HCPWE) project – funded by Horizon Europe – is hoped to provide a step-change in the application of HPC in wind energy exploration and production. HCPWE will last two years, involves 12 partners across Europe and Brazil and will be led by the University of Nottingham, UK.

‘Wind as a clean and renewable alternative to fossil fuels has become an increasingly important contributor to the energy portfolio of both Europe and Brazil,’ said project lead, Dr Xuerui Mao, from the Faculty of Engineering at Nottingham.

‘By 2025, the wind power market is expected to grow over $100bn. The HPC market is also a very important and growing market reaching total revenues of $11.4bn by 2015 alone. At almost every stage in wind energy exploitation, ranging from wind turbine design, wind resource assessment and power prediction to wind farm layout and operations, the application of HPC is a must.’

Annual wind energy production in the EU reached 10.4% in 2016, while Brazil’s wind energy production is growing by more than 10% each year and has the ninth largest wind capacity in the world. However, to meet targets globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, wind power must be made more efficient for wider use.

HCPWE will develop novel algorithms and state-of-the-art codes to test turbine simulations, the integration of meso- and micro-scale simulations, and optimisation.  

Dr Mao continued: ‘HPCWE will have a direct impact on societal issues such as the reduction of CO2 through promoting wind energy exploitation. The new HPC techniques will create job opportunities, particularly in consultancy in various aspects of wind energy such as wind resource assessment and wind farm optimisation.’

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