WILLOW

Official Project Name: "Wholistic and Integrated Digital Tools for Extended Lifetime and Profitability of Offshore Wind Farms"

Project Duration: October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2026

Business Area: Offshore Wind Energy

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The WILLOW project is developing digital tools to optimize the control and monitoring of offshore wind farms. At its core is an open, data-driven system for smart curtailment, which enables operators to maximize energy generation while extending the lifespan of turbines.

Project objective and description

The WILLOW project focuses on the development of digital tools specifically designed to optimize the control and monitoring of offshore wind farms. The project’s core goal is to introduce an open, data-driven system for smart curtailment, allowing operators to balance energy generation and turbine lifespan.

A key aspect is the creation of a Global Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system to track loads, accelerations, and material degradation in turbine towers and foundations. Using both physical and virtual sensors, as well as machine learning methods, this system will detect and assess fatigue, corrosion, and coating deterioration. This enables continuous condition monitoring and better planning of maintenance activities.

The project also emphasizes the development of tools to predict the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) and Consumed Lifetime (CL) of wind turbines. These predictions are based on SCADA data, coupled with SHM system information, processed through physical models and machine learning techniques. The early detection of anomalies and potential damage will be essential to avoid unexpected failures and maximize turbine life.

Additionally, the project aims to develop a decision support system to help operators manage turbines under constrained conditions (e.g., curtailment due to grid limitations). This system will optimize energy output in real time to meet grid requirements, market conditions, and lifespan constraints. It will also support maintenance planning by forecasting future energy extraction potential under different scenarios.Through these measures, WILLOW aims to reduce the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), increase the Annual Energy Production (AEP), and extend the lifespan of offshore wind farms, particularly for turbines up to 20 MW, to over 50 years.

Wölfel’s contribution to WILLOW focuses on developing a vibration- and strain-based SHM system for wind turbine towers and foundations. This involves reconstructing load contributions from waves and current as well as deducting virtual measured quantities at locations where no physical sensors are applied, using measured data from other positions in combination with numerical models (Virtual Sensing).


Free University of Brussels

Cluster De Energía (Basque Energy Cluster)

Sintef Energy Research

Ceit (Ceit Technology Center)

Flanders Make

Sirris

Alerion Technologies

TSI S.L

24SEA

C-Cube International

Norther (Offshore operator)

Wölfel Engineering GmbH + Co. KG

Funding Body: European Union within the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Program

Reference: 101122184 – WILLOW – HORIZON-CL5-2022-D3-03

Project Lead: Ceit (Ceit Technology Center) 

 

More Information

Further information on the project can also be found at https://willow-project.eu/


Please contact me personally

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Do you have any questions? As the project manager at Wölfel for this project, I am available to answer any questions you may have about this research project.

Dr. rer. nat. Andreas Nuber

+49 931 49708-365
nuber@woelfel.de

Study

Study of physics at the universities of Würzburg and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Acadamic Degree

Intermediate Diploma (2003) University of Würzburg
Master of Science (2005), Rutgers
Dr. rer. nat. (2011), University of Würzburg

Committee Activity

Advisory Board of the Test Centre Support Structures Hanover
Head of the Maritime Measurement & Environmental Technology Section of the Gesellschaft für Maritime Technik e.V. (Society for Maritime Technology).

Professional Motto

"In order for the possible to come into being, the impossible must be attempted again and again."(Hermann Hesse)

 

Working at Wölfel

Always new exciting research projects with excellent teams and a great working atmosphere.