The partnership between the Universities of Sheffield, Durham, and Hull, as well as energy companies Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted, aims to make wind turbines more reliable, efficient, lighter, and cheaper.
A collaboration between UK universities and energy companies has made significant improvements to offshore wind turbines, resulting in the potential to generate more renewable energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The Sheffield researchers have made crucial improvements to the direct-drive generator, which is the technology that enables wind turbines to run without a gearbox. The collaboration has also developed new ways to monitor the health of wind turbines to help energy companies predict and prevent issues and faults. The improvements mean wind turbines can run for longer periods of time, boosting the amount of energy each wind farm generates and reducing costs.
The collaboration was funded by the UKRI Prosperity Partnership programme, which aims to support research into real-life problems identified by industrial partners.
Source
Universities develop ways for wind turbines to generate more energy, University of Sheffield, 2023-03-23
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