A long overdue update: Aeolians.net Advent calendar originally published on LinkedIn in a series of posts in December 2024. The pdf presentation is at this link.
Day 1/24
1/24 🎁 Hello wind & site people 🌬️, every day during the advent period 🎄I propose to visit the aeolians.net archives and dive into the history of our practice 🤓 📚! It’s much older than most people think, and there are so many stories to share! Let us browse through Johannes Juul’s wind measurement campaigns (1950s), Peter Lissaman’s wake studies (1970-80s), but also the very first Risø micrometeorology reports (1960s) and Tripod Consult power curve measurements (1980s), and many more of course!
The first document I chose is really a gem: 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀-𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝟭𝟵𝟭𝟰 𝗣𝗵𝗗 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝘆, with measurements from Eiffel’s wind tunnel and the Eiffel tower – yes 😍 You’ll find it, with some discussion, in the article https://lnkd.in/dzY7Uiaw.
So why am I doing this?
✔️ First of all, for all our colleagues who haven’t been told these stories, and are not necessarily aware that we exist as a community for some decades now.
✔️ Secondly, because it’s… interesting! There are so many things to learn from our predecessors, on physics, tech and business applications!
✔️ Lastly, well it’s for giving me a good reason to finish the draft journal article I have been working on for some years now, a second paper for the JHE/RHE which will set the focus on wind *farm* (and not turbine) engineers during the 1980s and 1990s… I really don’t plan to work on it during the Xmas break this year again 😅
Hope you all will like these little curiosities, you’ll find them all in there: https://shorturl.at/kmu66
Day 2/24
2/24 🎁Second day of our tour in the aeolians.net archives, and see what I got: two hashtag#Risö reports from 1959 and 1962! Via airmail 📭 from… Long Island? How come?
Allright, here it goes… In the late 70s the technical and political success of the Danish wind power 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 (Juul’s tradition) led to the creation of the small wind turbines test center at the premises of the 𝗥𝗶𝘀ø 𝗡𝘂𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 National Laboratory, with the help (among others) of three Risø engineers: Helge Pedersen, Per Lundsager and Peter Steen Andersen.
Another key person was Niels E. Busch, the head of Risø micrometerology department. Niels’s group was at the time focusing on nuclear hazards and air pollution, since the late 1960s…
… an activity very much inspired from the Brookhaven National Laboratory which served as model (very similar met tower); therefore it’s *no surprise* that I found the hashtag#Risö reports in a bookshop from Long Island 😉
Thanks to these 15-20 years of research, from the very start, turbine designers and scientist would benefit from a wealth of scientific knowledge on 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗕𝗟 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆, very quickly applied to Wind Energy via lean and efficient state-funded research programs 🙂
Have a look at this article, where you’ll find plenty of cool things about this period, https://lnkd.in/d7ECBFYx (including a participation to 𝗞𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹’𝘀 𝗞𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, and regular visits of 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗳𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗮𝘁 “𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁”.
You’ll sometimes hear me say that “not everything comes from Risø”. It is indeed very known, and other very important places (see my coming posts) should also be kept in our memories; that’s why I say it. However, without Niels Busch and his group our community would be VERY different, so thank you Niels 🙏 .
On the story of Risø and the test station, see: https://lnkd.in/dZta_3eD, with of course plenty of content if you read danish, see https://lnkd.in/dxQzz8GP.
The RISØ section of aeolians.net‘s archives: https://lnkd.in/dwwumFDi
Happy reading
Day 3/24
3/24 🎁 … let’s continue our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟴 and the 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗮 set a goal of 10% of wind energy in the electricity mix by year 2000 … thats’ a lot of turbines (7.7 GW) 😯 : where should they be installed, and can they produce that much?
A first 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲-𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 is carried out in 77-78 by A. Miller and 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻 (now https://lnkd.in/dcPsk6Ne) for the California Energy Commission, followed by regional studies:
✔️Southern California, Tehachapi, San Gorgonio: 𝗔𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 (Thomas Zambrano et al.)
✔️Alameda & Solano: PG&E (their meteorologist 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 https://lnkd.in/dU9VFwGu)
✔️California Desert: Edwin Berry (Atmospheric Research and Technology, at the time)
✔️Northeastern California: again Rich Simon
And.. there are possibly more I haven’t yet managed to map. All the docs are there: https://lnkd.in/d-HWSGsm
The work is carried out using a mix of historical measurements from weather stations, but also loaned anemometers, met masts, kites and much sci/tech judgement (from vegetation, orography etc).
Aerovironment was a great, inspirational company for many and left a strong footprint in wind & site, you can read more about it here https://lnkd.in/edqhu3n and there https://lnkd.in/dcG-7_SF.
As to Rich Simon, Ed Berry and Ron Nierenberg, they are great examples of the consulting meteorologist american community, and continue working on projects today.
Many have heard of the 1980s californian wind energy adventure, which ended badly for some (but not all) developers and turbine manufacturers, but did you know about the wind & site work before, during and after the wind rush?
Happy reading 😉
PS: below is map from the Californian Wind Atlas (1985) overlaid onto results from the Global Wind Atlas. High res file: https://lnkd.in/dJrPT9HY
Day 4/24
🎁 4/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟱 and 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗢𝗗 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁 have just posted a job ad in Ingeniøren. In the ad, it says “Der er fremtid i vindmøller” (there is future in wind turbines) https://lnkd.in/dX2Et7Yh. They work with:
✔️ structural calculations on wind turbines
✔️ aerodynamic calculations
✔️ power and load measurements
✔️ software development
✔️ hardware for measurements
Sounds familiar and relatable? 😉
Founded in 1980 by Søren Gjerding and Jens B. Gjerding, TRIPOD remained for three decades a very impactful and respected consultancy company. It was acquired by COWI in 2008.
Jens was 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 already years before founding TRIPOD (in Tvind, 1976) https://lnkd.in/dTah3H_Y and both have since then supported 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀 (who did not have that many engineers in house in the 80s) and 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 as well as participated to 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗲𝘀. They worked closely with test centers such as Risø (TRIPOD was accredited for power curve testing).
Publicly available documents from/about TRIPOD are rare, but I could find a few of them in Danish libraries, and some from their archived website, see https://lnkd.in/dXJtwEdt. Below some great examples:
✔️ Power curve measurements (1988, 1992)
✔️ Wake turbulence measurements (1992)
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m lucky to have met Jens a few times, as well as Flemming Langhans, and it’s always good to speak about TRIPOD. Very inspiring, and unvoidable when doing the history of Wind & Site 📖 .
In future posts, I will *of course* present other pioneer consulting engineers, such as VE-data/EMD, Elsam Engineering (too little known), Garrad Hassan, RAM, MESO Inc, AWS, Anemos, etc (I will do my best not to forget anyone)..
… but 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗢𝗗 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 and advertised. They deserve a big thank you from all of us for the great, impactful and inspiring work 🙂 🙏
Happy reading 😉
Day 5/24
🎁 5/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟴, in 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 a master student compares 𝗪𝗔𝘀𝗣 results with physical modelling. One of the very first thesis on WAsP validation, certainly 🙂
The student is Paul Botha (now Roaring40s Wind Power in NZ 👋- hi Paul!), his thesis is publicly available at https://lnkd.in/dDidFwMy.
It is followed by Jonathan Denison’s thesis in 1990 entitled “The Siting of a Wind Turbine using the WAsP Numerical Model and its Validation by Comparison with Field Data” https://lnkd.in/du8JuXHj
So 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗔𝘀𝗣 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲? Check out the slideshow and the documents. It doesn’t have a GUI, and no PARK module yet (that program is still at VE-data/EMD at that time, I think).
Many, many interesting things in their work, like the below:
“𝘖𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 5𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦-𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 35 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩, 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.” (wise man 😉 !)
And flying TALA kites! Like Aerovironment, and many in the US in the 1980s! 🪁
I recenlty tried to run a 1994 version of WAsP (from Elsam Engineering) – I didn’t pass the map setup 😯 – i heard this was a tough one.
Both thesis are available on the repo https://lnkd.in/dXjgSf9b.
Happy reading 🙂
Day 6/24
🎁 6/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟮 and the IEA Wind has finally approved a new task, focusing on microscale wind conditions. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹: where to find it? And why 𝗔𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗻?
The Askervein experiment is well known experiment, carried out in 1982-83 by a team of researchers led by Peter Taylor (Canada). Measurements on this Scottish (Outer Hebrides) hill have been used countless times for validating flow models, among other WAsP and most CFD codes I know of.
But why Askervein? Reports from the experiment https://lnkd.in/d7fAwG46 explain the hill was identified by 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗼𝗿 and… 𝗨𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻 (ex 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (ERA) then CERL? and WEG, before co-founding Garrad Hassan).
Interestingly enough, ERA carried out, decades before Askervein, a great number of hilltops 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗪𝗜𝗜 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱. This effort was lead by 𝗘𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, one of the three main post-war pionneers (with Juul in Denmark, and Hütter in Germany). For instance, already in 1951 measurements were carried out as Easaval, 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗸𝗺 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗻.
I’m tempted to postulate that ERA and CERL, who knew about the work of Golding, had already a good idea of where to look for 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗹𝘀 (smooth, homogenous roughness and fetch, windy).
You can find more information in this aeolians article https://lnkd.in/d9DTGDXP and in Marianna Dudley’s paper https://lnkd.in/dz-PCiZK. The ERA reports are there https://lnkd.in/dsrKTAbW.
Another example of 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 in Wind & Site history. Happy reading, and happy weekend 📖 🙂
Day 7/24
🎁 7/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟲, two years after publishing a major work on wind turbine aerodynamics with Bob Wilson, 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻 takes on a new challenge: 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀.
Peter Lissaman (former Caltech professor) founded Aerovironment in 1971 with Paul MacCready, and worked on the very first american R&D wind energy projects initiated after the oil crisis (among many other things). The work on wind turbine wakes was though initiated by the National Swedish Board for Energy Source Development (Sven Hugosson).
(Let us remember that at the time, there was no publicly funded wind energy research program in Denmark. Only after 1974 did it start after a visit of the american R&D project team to the decommissioned Gedser turbine, at the occasion of a symposium held in Sweden.)
The work of Lissaman was published in a 1979 paper cited hundreds of times: “Energy Effectiveness of Arbitrary Arrays of Wind Turbines”. But the background reports were nowhere to be found… until Nicolai Nygaard and I got hold of Torgny Faxen who worked with Peter Lissaman and had kept a copy!
I recommend reading this reports, these are the first ever technical reports on wind turbine wakes, and many of the concepts therein are still relevant today. The reports are available at https://lnkd.in/d5FujBZ6.
You can read the whole story on aeolians.net at https://lnkd.in/dZt2sTAr
Peter Lissaman was a great person, in his late years he had small consultancy called “Da Vinci Ventures”, he posted regularly on internet forums on aero/sci/tech topics https://lnkd.in/dN3VP9t6, his quote was “Expertise is not knowing everything, but knowing what to look for”. A very inspiring figure for me.
More on Aerovironment:
https://lnkd.in/dcG-7_SF
On Robert Elliot Wilson: https://lnkd.in/dETWQrRa
On Peter B.S. Lissaman:
https://lnkd.in/dvGp-NTy
On Paul MacCready:
https://lnkd.in/dQrnYTXr
Post image: https://lnkd.in/dnMCAy6f
Day 8/24
🎁 8/24 of our tour in the aeolians archives 🎄. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟬 and the 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 (CEGB) wonders: what is the 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺, all constraints considered?
A study is carried out by Taywood Engineering (who owned Wind Energy Group, and exited the wind business in 1994), in partnership with ERA Technology and the CEGB research lab, CERL; with familiar names: David Lindley (later: head of National Wind Power), Unsal Hassan (later: Garrad Hassan), and of course David Milborrow.
[note: created after the liberalisation in 1990, National Wind Power was the largest UK developer, it became npower and then innogy, RWE; they developed offshore projects such as North Hoyle]
Back to Lindley et al. They used a classi combo {water depth < 20 m, soil, distance to coast > 5 km, shipping, etc} to 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀, supplemented with:
✔️ wake effects calculated using wind tunnel experiments from Milborrow,
✔️ only extreme wave conditions have been considered
✔️ wind speed estimates from existing measurement stations
This is one (the first one?) out many offshore wind studies carried out in the UK in the 1980s, you can read more about them in the below article https://lnkd.in/dqW3A9Dp.
A summary of the study is available in Nature: https://lnkd.in/dvJuJcVZ
Happy reading 🙂
Day 9/24
🎁 9/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟯. 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗡𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗲 edits a 3-volumes, 700 pages-long guidance document on 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.
Claus Nybroe, an architect, turbine builder, is proeminent figure of the 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, he published a very famous book among turbine builders: “𝗦𝗼𝗹 𝗼𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗱” (1976).
The guidance document is a great example of the 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 between the 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 movement (Preben Mægaard and the folkecenter), the nascent wind 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆, and experts from 𝗥𝗶𝘀ø. It describes in great details how to develop a successfull 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺 project. [Context: the first danish wind farm was constructed in 1982, in the 80s most danish wind energy projects are single turbine projects]. It covers:
✔️ elements of micrometeorology for wind energy
✔️design and planning, including wake effects
✔️grid connection
✔️economy and organisation
In 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟯 and 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟱, Claus Nybroe goes on 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗮, sponsored by the Danish authorities, and writes detailed (somewhat critical, but fair) summaries of the status of the Californian wind market.
Claus Nybroe remained very close to the folkecenter, and worked in the industry and as consultant. It’s 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 to find people like Claus who have worked extensively with both wind *turbines* and wind *farms*.
Another example showing that the 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 😉
More on wind energy history, including the Danish grassroot movement on Paul Gipe‘s website: https://lnkd.in/dcdA7aV4
All reports from the folkecenter: https://lnkd.in/d_PCwE64
Day 10/24
🎁 day 10/24 in the aeolians.net archives 🎄. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟴 and in his book “Power from the Wind” 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗖. 𝗣𝘂𝘁𝗻𝗮𝗺 writes: “In 1934 I had built a house on Cape Cod and had found both the winds and the electric rates surprisingly high”.
The 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵–𝗣𝘂𝘁𝗻𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 was the first MW-size wind turbine, built in 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟭 by a consortium of scientists and engineers led by Palmer Putnam. The story is told in all wind energy history books, but they often miss a very important aspect: wind conditions…
In their search for the 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, the team had only a few measurements datasets available (Blue Hill Observatory, Mt Washington, Boston Airport, and they all pointed in one direction: the higher above the sea level, the windier. Plus, they knew about speed-up on hilltops. Therefore, with the few data points available they 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 at Grandpa’s Knob (a mountain in Vermont): 28.8 mph (12.9 m/s).
Sadly enough, after a 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 the results turned out to be disappointing: the place was much (much) 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱y 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱. The 𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 lied in the Mt Washington data they had used, where a correction factor had been applied to the measurements but had not been communicated to the users..
As Putnam write: “If it had been known at the end of 1940 (ed: when they conducted on-site measurements) that not only was there no anomaly, but also little wind at those elevations below which we did not fear ice, it is likely that the experiment would have been abandoned out of hand”.
The project was a great entrepreneurship adventure, with very talented scientists and engineers (S. Pettersen, Von Karman, …). It was though a reminder that 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 & 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, as wind turbines in their natural environment often do not behave “as expected”.
Some more details on aeolians.net: https://lnkd.in/dNDxfXfj
Putnam’s 1948 book: https://lnkd.in/dG_mn5ct
Photos from the turbine: https://lnkd.in/deemABwz
Happy reading 🙂
Day 11/24
🎁 day 11/24 in the aeolians.net archives 🎄 It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟵, Jack Kline and 𝗥𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 co-author an article in the WindStats Newsletter entitled “𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼-𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀”… yes, again, it’s about californian wind farms!
Jack Kline (RAM Associates) and Ron Nierenberg https://lnkd.in/dU9VFwGu are consulting meteorologists / wind engineers. In 1989, Ron has already more than 10 years experience with wind & site studies in the region (we saw in a earlier post that he carried some of the very first studies back in the late 70s).
Their study is funded by the 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗳 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆, and investigates 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀, using data from an 50MW cluster located upstream of a 25MW cluster (Howden). Before/after wind measurements are available as well. The reason for commissioning the study is the decrease in wind resource measured in the region, without explainable correlation to synoptic/climatic interannual variations such as El Niño.
Jack and Ron describe in the article, and in a paper authored by Ron and presented at the AWEA conference in 1989 how the 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 (a long time known feature of the weather in the region) is likely to blame for the very long extent of the wake effects observed at the sites (with power deficits still significant after 10, 20, even 30D).
So, this of course reminds of 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, both in the US (with the AWAKEN project) and in Europe (GLOBE, X-WAKES, WiPAFF, ….) many research projects have been tackling almost similar problems… 😉
Happy reading 🙂
Links to the articles: https://lnkd.in/d_jkjukq and https://lnkd.in/dbSuQz3n
Also: papers are still published regularly about the (difficult) wind conditions in California… see for instance (preprint): https://lnkd.in/dyfJsrPK
Day 12/24
🎁 day 12/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. 𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟯, 𝗟𝗼𝘂𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮 from 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁é 𝗱𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 (EDF) presents a result of his research: a 𝗺𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲.
Before initiating its famous Nuclear Energy program, EDF and the French authorities thoroughly research the wind resource of metropolitan France. The work started after WWII and the creation of EDF, under the leadership of 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘁 (founding member of EDF) https://lnkd.in/dd65Y9pC.
A large scale 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻, with purpose-built anemometers is carried out in 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟳 and 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟴, followed by 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 involving elements of micrometeoology (wind profiles analysis from…. smoke rockets!) and power system applications by Louis Serra (head of EDF’s hydrology department).
The conclusion of their work: “wind remains a considerable resource, justyfing the we find rational means to exploit it”.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the failure of the Best-Romani turbine https://lnkd.in/dzvAmaNW and the start of the nuclear program definitively stopped EDF’s wind energy program, but it existed, and it started with … a wind resource study🙂
The story and references are on aeolians.net: https://lnkd.in/dPx7hPqw
Happy reading 😉
Day 13/24
🎁 day 13/24 of tour in the aeolians.net archives 🎄 Let’s celebrate the end of a very busy work week with a video displaying Aerovironment 🥰 portfolio of activities and projects, i.e not only including Wind Energy but also:
✔️ studies of aircraft tip vortices at landing and take off
✔️ air pollution studies
✔️ applied aerodynamics
Credits: Tom Zambrano 🙏
Day 14/24
🎁 day 14/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟮 and the 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 (ETSU, DOE, UK) issues a 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺.
The work is the results of several years of applied research, and uses a widely used mesoscale model: 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 (𝗡𝗢𝗔𝗕𝗟).
NOABL was originally developed at 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗰. (now: Leidos https://lnkd.in/dCpS_Fqu) in the late 70s as part of the US wind energy research program. It served as a basis for the model developed by Michael Brower (then: 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼., later TrueWind Solutions / AWS TruePower w MESO Inc. and AWS Scientific, then UL), still in use at UL today.
Beside the 1992 report ; I could find another one from ETSU: “UK onshore wind energy resource” ETSU R-99, F Brocklehurst (1997). You’ll find them there: https://lnkd.in/d2s6pNZu.
However, there are 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, which I could unfortunely not find in pdf:
✔️ Estimation of the UK wind energy resource using computer modelling techniques and map data: A pilot study.
✔️ Estimation of the UK wind energy resource using computer modelling techniques report on phase I: optimisation of the methodology (1988)
✔️ Computer modelling of the UK wind energy resource: overview report (1992)
✔️ Assessment of the accuracy of BERR’s database of UK wind speeds (1995)
If you have these reports, let me know 🙂
Happy reading 🤓
Day 15/24
🎁 day 15/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. In 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟲, 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗣𝗡𝗟) releases the 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. This work is one of many projects PNL carried out under the US research program for Wind Energy since the late 1970s.
Earlier in 1981 and 1983, two reports dedicated to 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 were published:
✔️ The Meteorological Aspects of Siting Large Wind Turbines (1981)
✔️ Siting Guidelines for Utility Application of Wind Turbines (1983)
The 1981 guideline is more than 𝟱𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀-𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴, and covers everything from site prospection, 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 (Lissaman’s model), and environmental impact.
PNL were very (very) active in this field in the 1970s-1980s. I have countless of reports from them in the aeolians.net library https://lnkd.in/dhHDJ3J3. A key contributor to these project is 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗧. 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗹, later the Director of the Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division.
In recent years, PN(N)L (now a National Lab) has again become very involved with Wind Energy research, a warm welcome back to them 🙂
Happy reading 🤓
Day 16/24
🎁 day 16/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄 It’s 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟭 and Andrew Garrad signs off on an “Assessment of the Wind Regime and Energy Capture” for a 𝟭𝟯𝟱 𝗠𝗪 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗦𝗔.
The project was developed by Enron Wind (former Zond, then GE), and, believe it or not, there are couple of Garrad Hassan’s reports available from the email database made public during the investigation that followed their bankrupcy https://lnkd.in/di-KH2j3.
Public 𝗚𝗛 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲, and I wish I had another example than Enron at hand. But 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 🙂
𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗱 𝗛𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻 (GH) was created in 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟰 by Andrew Garrad and Unsal Hassan, both worked for Wind Energy Group in the UK from 1979 (we saw earlier that Hassan was at ERA in the late 70s). In the 80s their work focused on turbine modelling, wakes, control, blade manufacturing and consultancy projects, many funded by public authorities. There are many articles from GH in conferences from this period.
GH 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 & 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝟵𝟬𝘀 and the liberalisation of energy markets in Europe, with the growing need to support the technical development of industrial size projects. In this period, GH developed a wide range of services and became a (the?) leading wind consultancy. The company counts 25 employees in 1995, and over 50 in 2000.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗚𝗛 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟬𝘀? To me, three things:
✔️ Global presence (local contact with client, but also useful for inspecting weather stations anemometry used as references)
✔️ Close relationship to banks and production of guidelines for project de-risking (after the collapse of the Californian market, american banks would not finance wind projects, GH worked in Europe and in the US with the City and Dutch bankers)
✔️ Strong scientific participation to R&D projects JOULE and THERMIE on loads and siting topics, in particular on offshore wind.
I do not mean to be hagiographic. In my family picture of Wind & Site consultants, I care about all them (meteorologists Ron Nierenberg/Rich Simon, AWS/Truewind, Chinook Wind, V-Bar, RAM, Global Energy Concepts, Aerovironment, Elsam Engineering, EMD, TRIPOD, Anemos, etc.) … but looking back, 𝗚𝗛 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁, don’t you all think?
The 1990s is a key decade in the work I’m doing with aeolians.net at the moment. It’s the moment where the success of wind energy projects stops relying only on successful turbines, but also involves all the wind & site activities.
Wind energy history is more than wind turbine technology history 😉
Documents I have used are located here: https://lnkd.in/dHgcT8yP. GH’s old website is at https://lnkd.in/dKrbVmeW. Happy reading 🤓
Day 17/24
🎁 day 17/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives. It’s 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗮𝗹𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗴, Denmark: Per Nielsen starts his own company, 𝗩𝗘-𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮. The pitch? Making 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀 from Danish universities and research labs 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 to small companies in the maturing Wind Energy industry.
Since 1980, while at Aalborg University, Per has been working closely with the turbine owners association: making production estimates, writing guidelines for siting wind parks (we saw his contribution in an earlier post about Claus Nybroe) and working on the database of production data (self reported by turbine owners).
VE-data builds upon a successful project from the Danish Post and Telegraph Service (P&T) called 𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗢 (for Telekommunikation, Edb, Etb, Organisation), basically a digitalisation project targeting SMEs. The idea is simple: making it easier for wind energy companies to utilise the knowledge and computing resources available from Risø, AAU and DTH (now DTU).
Programs such as the 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀, 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞 (wakes) or other applications for structural design exists, but one needs access to the computers (as Per did, while at AAU). VE-Data proposes a paid 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 with a fix fee and then 𝗽𝗮𝘆-𝗮𝘀-𝘆𝗼𝘂 go on a hourly basis.
The concept quickly extends to other applications such as communal district heating. Eventually 𝗩𝗘-𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗠𝗗 at the turn of the 1990s.
At EMD, Per continues working with:
✔️ maintaining the Danish Wind Atlas (production data) and performing adjustments (large study with Risø in 1992, with regional adjustements).
✔️ developing software… WindPRO of course (released in 1997, and already 172 licenses in year 2000), with more and more developed modules (flicker, noise, etc)
✔️ siting wind parks both a the local and regional scale, in Denmark and abroad
✔️ managing EMD, and giving lectures/courses about wind & site to many (most) in the industry during those years, in particular in Germany and for turbine OEMs.
Per retired this year, he leaves behind an impressive career, spanning everything from the early pioneering days of the grassroot movement to the rise of offshore wind and industrial scale projects. A 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 for me and all of us here at home in Denmark 👏
For this post I have used archives from Ingeniøren https://lnkd.in/dbxUNQ-Z, The Way Back Machine https://lnkd.in/dvSQVgSD and a long interview of Per in the series “Wind turbine pioneers” (a must watch if you understand Danish) https://lnkd.in/dxvfqV9E.
Happy reading, and thanks again, Per!
Day 18/24
🎁 day 18/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟵: 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘂𝗹 writes in Elektroteknikeren about wind 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀, and the calibration of his cup 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲-𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿…
“The only wind tunnel […] was found to be small. Another way had therefore to be found. The [anemometer] was mounted at 2 m height on a pole above the radiator of a car […]. On a even asphalted road running for a distance of about 2 km through forest, the adjustement was carried out in a perfect calm by driving the car at various speed […]” 😍
Johannes Juul (1887-1969) was a student of 𝗣𝗼𝘂𝗹 𝗹𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿 (1846-1908) https://lnkd.in/dFvE_i77, he worked as an electrical engineer for the Danish utility SEAS. After the war, he designed and built wind turbines, for instance the 𝗚𝗲𝗱𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 (𝟭𝟵𝟱𝟳-𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟳): the most successful prototype post-WWII. Juul is de facto the father of the “𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁”: robust upwind, 3-bladed turbines which led to the success of the Danish wind energy industry. Sadly, Juul passed away in 1969 and did not live to see history giving him right.
Juul wrote about his experiments, 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀:
➖ “Investigation of the Possibilities of Utilisation of Wind Power” (1949)
➖ “Report on the Results Achieved with SEAS experimental Mill” (1952)
➖ “Supplement to the Report on the Results Achieved with SEAS’s experimental Mill” (1952)
➖ “SEAS’s Examination of Windpower in 1952: Change of a Wind Power Mill from Direct Current to Alternating Current Production” (1953).
➖ “Measuring Wind Velocities at Varying Heights above Ground” (1954)
➖ “Results Obtained with the Experimental Windmill of Sydøstsjællands Elektricitats Aktieselskab-Seas” (1954)
➖ “Conversion of Wind Power Plant from Direct Current to Alternating Current Output” (1954)
➖ “Wind-Power Plants in Denmark” (1954)
➖ “Wind Machines” (1956)
➖ “Design of Wind Power Plants in Denmark” (1961)
➖ “Development, Testing and Operation of a 200 kW Wind Power Station in Denmark” (1962).
A subjective grouping below:
✔️ First trials, 1947-1950: experiments on both wind- and turbine-related topics + testing in wind tunnels and open field.
✔️ Around the Vester Egesborg turbine: using his first trials, Juul went on and carried out further tests and measurements, at and around the Vester Egesborg turbine (onshore/offshore wind conditions)
✔️Gedser and Bogø turbines: design-, construction- and operation. Wind & sites aspects are limited to power curve and loads.
You will find more information on this aeolians.net article https://lnkd.in/dvhHeVeb
One thing I’m hoping to find the time for is re-publishing some of Juul’s main articles, so his greatness lives through the digital age. You’ll find a first example in the document attached below, from a 1954 paper describing wind measurements near the Masned Island power station.
Happy reading 🤓
Day 19/24
🎁 day 19/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟲 in Denmark, a Mercury 40 Jukebox (100 Gb on CD-ROMs) lands in Kurt Schaldemose Hansen office at 𝗗𝗧𝗨 𝗟𝘆𝗻𝗴𝗯𝘆 …
… what for? The JOULE R&D project “𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀”, co-managed by Jørgen Højstrup (RISØ) and involving Vestas as well as other research labs (CRES, DEWI, ETSU, …).
Context: in the 1990s the diversity of wind conditions increases. With larger turbines installed in all sort of terrains (offshore, complex orography, forested, deserted, or mix of all), manufacturers and site engineers needed to build a 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 that could be used for research, but also troubleshooting and in general technology improvement.
At the time, Kurt Hansen has already two decades of experience, starting in 1979 with strength calculations on the refurbished Gedser turbine https://lnkd.in/dTnubcAJ, and then onto the WEGA I & II (large, utility scale turbine) project with ELSAM. Kurt has then worked with measurement techniques, teaching for the Wind Energy master, offshore projects again with ELSAM-DONG, etc, so many fruitful projects!
The Database on Wind Characteristics is one of the first 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗲𝗯-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲. It was hosted at the address 𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮.𝗰𝗼𝗺, I guess many remember it. The project continued after the original two years thanks to the IEA Wind, at the time managed by another great figure of DTU-AFM: Bjarne Maribo-Pedersen.
𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆. A search on Google Scholar leads to 258 scholarly references https://lnkd.in/dE2a4CTP. Commercial reports using this database are of course difficult to find, but see here an example of ELSAM/LM collaboration about a wind farm in Tarifa, Spain (2000) https://lnkd.in/dWw7D3NR.
When Kurt retired, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝘄𝘄.𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮.𝗱𝘁𝘂.𝗱𝗸 by Kurt and Nikola Vasiljevic (the most data-caring person I know), and by then will remain available for free to all in the many years to come. See their story in this presentation https://lnkd.in/d5BhKm7J 👏
Some time ago, we invited Kurt to tell himself the story of winddata.com at a WRAG meeting https://groups.io/g/wrag, and on behalf of our little community I’d like to 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗞𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 for managing this long-running project with his peers Jørgen Højstrup, Mike Courtney, Ferhat Bingöl and Gunner Larsen.
Thank you all, thanks again to Nikola for the winddata.com revamp!
Happy reading 🤓
Day 20/24
🎁20/24… a special episode of aeolians.net advent calendar today, where many will go on holidays🎄🎅… with a Peter Clive 👏 recording of “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹”, 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝘅 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 (then Taylor Woodroow), published as part of the BHRA International Symposium on Wind Energy Systems held in 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟮 🙂
The wind energy engineering community was, as it still is today, very cohesive with a great sense to belong to a family of practitioners.
There are a couple more posts left until the 24th, and if you leave today, no worries: you’ll find them on my feed when you are back 😉
Happy holidays to all, and 💯 points to Peter for the recording 🎵 🎹 🙏
Day 21/24
🎁 day 21/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄 April 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟬, Peggy Friis lands her first job: operation engineer for the 𝗡𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 at 𝗘𝗟𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗘𝗞𝗧.
MW-size turbines have been wished for since the start of modern Wind Energy (post 1973). By whom? Not manufacturers, but utilities. From cost of energy or landscape/land use mgmt perspective, in Europe and the US “𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲” 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀/𝗧𝗦𝗢𝘀/𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.
Yet, Juul’s and Hütter’s 100-200 kW prototypes couldn’t be scaled up to MW turbines that fast. The failure of the US/DE programs has been well discussed elsewhere (Heymann, 1998).
Today, we have MW size turbines. So 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲? Answers lies partly in 𝗥&𝗗 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 in Europe and the US, and in the involvement (sometimes forced) of 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.
𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗲𝗴𝗴𝘆. ELSAM Project (EP) is the engineering office of the consortium of Power utilities ELSAM (Western Denmark). Their involvement with utility-scale turbines is gradual:
➖ Early 80s: operation of 𝗡𝗜𝗕𝗘 𝗔 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕.
➖ Mid to late 80s: design, construction and operation of the 𝗧𝗷æ𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗴 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 (part of European project WEGA)
➖ Early 90s: demo utility scale wind farms (after heated negociations with the governement)
➖ Late 90s: large offshore demo projects
A similar consortium on Eastern Denmark, ELKRAFT, was tasked with similar projects (remember Vindeby?); same for the TSO (ELTRA). Among their key leaders: 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗽 and 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗢𝗹𝘀𝗲𝗻.
The NIBE and Tjæreborg turbines did not perform as good as commercial turbines available at the time. But, there were not designed and operated to live up to such requirements. Instead, 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, and in particular: the development and validation of 𝗮𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀 (FLEX4 by Stig Øye, DTU-AFM).
It took another project (WEGA-II), with turbine OEMs, for developing commercially mature MW size turbines. But many of the tools, methods, and 𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 were set by NIBE and WEGA.
In 90s, EP developed strong in-house wind farm development skills with experts such as Peggy. Services included:
✔️ load calculations (FLEX4)
✔️ wind resource and siting
✔️ development, construction.
𝗘𝗟𝗦𝗔𝗠 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗸𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 providing services in DK Europe and globally (ex: Russia 1996 https://lnkd.in/duf2hzmh). It renames as Tech-Wise in 00′, then ELSAM Engineering.
Wind Energy history is more than wind turbine history, utilities did their bit too 😉 Thanks to Peggy et al. at EP/EE for the great work 🙏.
Sources: reports, books, for Frank Olsen and Vindeby, see https://lnkd.in/dacF95kj. Peggy’s story: https://shorturl.at/YYxuD 🤩
Day 22/24
🎁 day 22/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄It’s almost time to wrap-up, and before doing so let’s talk about…
… all the stories I haven’t told you, because I don’t know them or haven’t gotten the oral/written documentation (hard to do without in historical research) 🥺
Below a few uncharted territories:
➖Iberia: I have a single CIEMAT report about the spanish WEGA turbine, it’s a wee bit too little given the importance of Spain and Portugal in wind & site.
➖Italy: beside a few R&D research reports from ENEA in the early 90s, I have close to nothing. Again: too little for a country with many projects (and a manufacturer) in those years!
➖Germany: very little on Anemos, almost nothing on DEWI.
➖France: some material from Espace Éolien Développement, but nothing on La Cie du Vent, or SIIF.
And the list goes on: India, South America, Africa, … I welcome your contributions.
Whether it’s a siting/yield report, or some regional wind study, a power curve report, if you think it makes sense to be added to the library, now is always a good time ☺️.
Day 23/24
🎁 day 23/24 of our tour in the aeolians.net archives🎄. Year 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬: a broad European project coordinates by Andrew Henderson (TU Delft) states: “It is expected that within 10 years, wind parks with a total capacity of thousands of megawatts will be installed in European seas”…
… the project? “Concerted Action on Offshore Wind Energy in Europe”, https://lnkd.in/dwQ3hCpN worked out alongside “Design methods for Offshore Wind Turbines at Exposed Sites” https://lnkd.in/dbgcj8Gw
The history of Offshore Wind is yet to be written, it is actually writing itself every day, however it’s worth pointing out a few important milestones:
➖ early 90s: 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 in Denmark (Vindeby) and the Netherlands (Lely), high-level feasibility studies.
➖mid-late 90s: 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 in Holland (Opti-OWECS) and Denmark focused on foundation design (FLEX5) and environmental impact. First conferences: see OWEMES 97 https://lnkd.in/dERpYPN8, more DK (Samsø, Middelgrunden) and first UK demo project (Blyth https://lnkd.in/dWMyqSnF) + Sweden too (Bockstigen)
➖early 00s’: first 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 (Rødsand, Horns Reef, etc), validation studies and standardisation, see this seminar in DK in 2001 https://lnkd.in/dGzZS3y7.
The 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of the practice did play a key role in decreasing technical risk and increasing confidence for investors. If you ever wondered where the IEC61400-3 standards came from, take a look at the REcommendations for Design of OFFshore wind turbines (RECOFF) project led by Sten Frandsen (who sadly passed away too early): https://lnkd.in/d-ADqVBY
A whole lot of the practice in site conditions was 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗶𝗹 & 𝗴𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿, 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: wind turbines being very flexible structures very sensitive to both wind AND wave loads, the field of offshore wind site conditions would quickly diverge from its older brother in many ways… a story which is yet to be written in full 😉
References: offshore-related document on aeolians.net: https://lnkd.in/dirZv8iV, supplemented with The Way Back Machine.
Happy reading 🙂Activate to view larger image,
Day 24/24
🎁 day 24/24 … 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 of the aeolians.net advent calendar🎄, time to wish you all merry Christmas and happy holidays. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴!
We got to see 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀, from the early 20th century to the 2000’s, many stories which have in common to tell about Wind Energy “𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲”…
… because it takes more than a successful turbine to make a successful Wind Energy project 😉
Whether it’s the work of our the pre/post WWII pionneers (Putnam, Juul, Hütter), the national programs in the 70s, the first commercial projects in the 80s, the industrialisation boom of the 90s, the 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀:
How much wind is there?
How turbulent is it?
Which turbine to place, and where?
Do turbines produce what they should?
Etc, etc.
At the overlap between engineering and geosciences lies 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱 & 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀, a distinct field of Wind Engineering we’re all glad to be a part of 🥰
We’re lucky to stand on the shoulders of at least 2 to 3 generations of practitioners, who like ourselves devote a lot of their time to understanding and characterising wind conditions, let us aknowledge their work and 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀.
Feel free to contribute to aeolians.net, with testimonies, documents, or tips about stories I should know about. The next step for me is to finish my second article before Spring and the windsurfing season, wish me perseverance 😅 At least, my ideas got clearer thanks to having to post about it on a daily basis 😁
𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁, see you next time 👋
