A consortium of GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power and TNO, are collaborating on the Turbine Improvements for Additional Energy (TIADE) project to develop technologies and design methods for more efficient operation of next-generation wind turbine rotors, wind farms with large rotor wakes, and demonstrate them in the field.The TIADE project touched a new milestone with the research wind turbine becoming fully operational. The innovations developed in the project will be tested on the full-scale 130 metre diameter turbine recently installed in Wieringermeer, the Netherlands. The turbine is powered by two-piece blades, which allows the outer 12 metres of the blades to be replaced by several tips. Various blade add-ons, such as spoilers, serrations, vortex generators, ‘turbulators’ and blade tip improvements will be validated using measurement techniques. These solutions can be applied to newly manufactured wind turbines in the factory, but they can partly also be retrofitted to existing offshore wind farms. The partners expect that the implementation of the technologies in offshore wind farms can be done from 2023.
