11 July 2024
The MERIDIONAL project releases 13 new scientific papers on onshore, offshore, and airborne wind energy research
PRESS RELEASE
The EU-funded MERIDIONAL project has released 13 scientific papers on wind energy – out of 22 since the project’s launch. The occasion for this flurry of publications was the international TORQUE 2024 conference – the world’s premier academic wind energy conference. The results showcase the project's important contribution to scientific research on understanding the loads and performance of surface and airborne wind energy systems.
MERIDIONAL, which stands for “Multiscale modelling for wind farm design, performance assessment and loading,” is an EU-funded project to better understand the physics of the atmosphere and its impact on wind energy systems. The project focuses on enabling efficient and accurate assessments of the performance and loads experienced by onshore, offshore, and airborne wind energy systems. MERIDIONAL brings together leading technical universities from across Europe, including the Delft University of Technology, the Technical University of Denmark, the Technical University of Munich, the Polytechnic University of Milan, and the University of Stuttgart. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US is also lending its support. The project is also underpinned by Airborne Wind Europe, the kite power companies: Kitepower, Kitenergy and Kitekraft; and Whiffle, a company providing rapid high resolution wind power forecasts. Dissemination activities are carried out by ICONS.
Since the project’s kick-off in November 2022, MERIDIONAL partners have now produced 22 scientific papers on wind energy research. This includes simulations on the impact of different inflow conditions on wind turbine wakes, studies on the relationship between wind speed and aerodynamic turbine performance, improvements to the double-Gaussian wake model and much more.
Results are being disseminated also through international conferences, such as TORQUE 2024 – a prestigious event in the field of wind energy, attracting academics, industry professionals, and students from around the globe to share knowledge and network. At this conference, MERIDIONAL released 13 papers, all of which are now available open access on the project’s website in the “resources” section.
Prof. Dr Simon Watson from TU Delft – the project coordinator – expressed his satisfaction with the progress made so far: “The TORQUE conference provided an excellent platform for the MERIDIONAL project to showcase its latest research. Presenting so many publications is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. We are proud of the strides we are making in applying our research to optimise surface and airborne wind energy systems and look forward to further advancements.”
The MERIDIONAL project continues to push the boundaries of wind energy research, contributing valuable insights and technological advancements in the field. With the support of the EU and collaboration among Europe’s leading technical universities and industrial partners, as well as cooperation with leading researchers in the US, MERIDIONAL is set to revolutionise the tools that can be used to assess performance and loading of wind energy systems.
Photo credits: TORQUE 2024