A consortium has won funding for a research project in Japan aimed at enabling the rapid large-scale deployment of floating offshore wind turbines.
The Japanese Government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is supporting research and development of technology that evaluates the wake effect phenomenon in floating wind turbines.
The wake effect in floating wind turbines is mostly unstudied, so the project team, which includes NSK, expects the research to solve technical issues for large floating offshore wind farms.
Other project members include Kyushu University (Multiscale Offshore Wind Research Division), Toshiba Energy Systems Corporation and Hitachi Zosen Corporation.
Takanori Uchida of Kyushu University will lead the project.
In large-scale offshore wind farms comprising of numerous turbines, wake effect causes negative outcomes such as greater turbulence.
In addition, there is a reduction in electricity generation on the downwind side and an increase in the load acting on the turbines.
To deliver large-scale offshore wind farms in Japan as quickly and appropriately as possible, among the most vital tasks is developing technology to help understand and precisely predict the wake effect while also establishing “innovative and optimal design methods” for Japan’s geographical context.
Aspects of the project will occur in a large wind tunnel facility at Kyushu University.
Researchers have several objectives, including understanding the wake effect unique to floating wind turbines and their mutual interference phenomena, developing technology for their prediction and evaluation and to setting out the future pathway for technology development with an eye toward industry-academia collaboration.
As part of the project’s research, NSK aims to enhance the reliability of bearings for wind turbines by understanding the attributes of load changes acting on turbines as a result of the wake effect, thereby supporting more widespread adoption of wind power generation.