Ocean Array Systems (OAS) will use the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s 7MW offshore wind demonstration turbine to validate software designed to improve the control strategies of offshore wind turbines. OAS’s TurbineGRID simulation software enables wind farm owner/operators to better predict how turbines respond to atmospheric turbulence, stability and wake interaction at both individual and farm level.
The project, Simulation to enable Asset Life Extension of wind turbines (SALE), funded by Innovate UK, will use production and load sensor data from the Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine, combined with wind conditions measured through a met mast and Lidar located at the site. These will then be compared with the numerical model of the wind conditions and turbine response of the TurbineGRID software to validate the tool. The Levenmouth turbine load data will come from sensor instrumentation that is to be installed on the turbine’s blades, tower and substructure to monitor its behaviour in real-world conditions. As part of this project, there is also an opportunity for other turbine owner/operators to share array production data in return for the confidential reporting of turbulence characteristics and turbine response using the TurbineGRID software.