November 1, 2019, saw the start of the X-Wakes “Interaction Between the Wakes of Large Offshore Wind Farms and Wind Farm Clusters With the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer” research project. The € 3.4 million project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).
In the X-Wakes research project, the researchers want to investigate wakes and other accumulative effects such as the global blockage effect in more detail and discover how the wind farm clusters influence each other as well as what consequences a large-scale expansion of the offshore wind farm would have on wind conditions in the future.
The researchers are employing a combination of complimentary methods in the project. Stationary measurements at different locations in the German Bight, e.g. on wind turbines, converter stations and the FINO long-term measurements deliver meteorological data continuously and the extent of the wakes is analyzed on a large scale with the aid of satellite-based remote sensing data. In addition, measuring campaigns with a research aircraft at low altitude also deliver high-resolution meteorological data
In addition to the Fraunhofer IWES and the TU Braunschweig, a further five research partners are involved in the cooperative project: the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Oldenburg with the ForWind - Center for Wind Energy Research, the University of Tübingen, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Center for Materials and Coastal Research, and UL International GmbH.
The project consortium is supported by the associated partners innogy SE, Vattenfall, RWE Renewables, Nordsee One GmbH, and Tennet TSO, who are providing wind farm data and access to their offshore infrastructure for measurements. In addition, the German Meteorological Service (DWD) and the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) are also available to the project partners in an advisory capacity.