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UpWind: Europe’s Largest Wind-Power R&D Project

The UpWind wind-energy project, Europe’s largest research effort to develop next generation wind technologies, will soon reach its half-way mark.

UpWind is a 5-year wind-energy research project, which began in March 2006 and will end in February 2011. The project seeks to develop superior wind-turbine components needed for large-scale wind-power facilities like the London Array offshore-wind-farm soon to be constructed in the outer Thames Estuary about seven miles from the coast of England.

The project has concentrated on developing a new generation of elephant-sized wind turbines. Enercon recently revealed the E-126 wind-turbine, which has a generating capacity of roughly seven megawatts. The E-126 is likely the first and perhaps the smallest of this new generation of mega wind turbines, which are likely to have generating capacities larger than 8-10 megawatts and rotors that span more than 120 meters. Because current design methods limit wind energy’s ability to reach commercial scale in a cost-efficient manner, UpWind wants to upgrade the antiquated components and manufacturing infrastructure needed for mega wind.

UpWind list the following areas of concentration as mission critical::

*Metrology
*Transmission and conversion
*Smart rotor blades and rotor control
*Aerodynamics and aeroelastics
*Foundations and support structures
*Control systems
*Remote sensing

Companies from the a range of industries, including manufacturing, service, academic, R&D establishments and professional organisations are working on UpWind, including:

* Technical University of Denmark (Risø National Laboratory), Denmark, Project Coordinator
* Technical University of Denmark (Risø National Laboratory), Denmark
* Aalborg University, Denmark
* Energy research Centre of the Netherlands, The Netherlands
* Stichting Kenniscentrum Windturbine Materialen en Constructies, The Netherlands
* Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
* Centre for Renewable Energy Sources, Greece
* National Technical University of Athens, Greece
* University of Patras, Greece
* Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik Verein an der Universität Kassel, Germany
* Universität Stuttgart, Germany
* Elsam Engineering A/S, Denmark
* GE Wind Energy GmbH, Germany
* Gamesa Innovation and Technology, Spain
* Fiberblade Eólica S.A., Spain
* Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd., United Kingdom
* Werkzeugmaschinenlabor, Aachen University, Germany
* LM Glasfiber A.S., Denmark
* Germanischer Lloyd WindEnergie GmbH, Germany
* Ramboll Danmark A.S., Denmark
* Fundación Robotiker, Spain
* VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland
* SAMTECH S.A., Belgium
* Shell Windenergy BV, The Netherlands
* Repower Systems AG, Germany
* Det Norske Veritas, Danmark A/S, Denmark
* Lohmann und Stolterfoht GmbH, Germany
* University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (link to )
* Instytut Podstawowych Problemow Techniki PAN, Poland
* Institute of Thermomechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic
* Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
* Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, United Kingdom
* Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium
* QinetiQ Ltd., United Kingdom
* Vestas Asia Pacific A/S, Denmark
* Smart Fibres Ltd., United Kingdom
* University of Salford, United Kingdom
* European Wind Energy Association, Belgium
* Ecotècnia S.C.C.L., Spain
* Fundación CENER - CIEMAT, Spain