The Netherlands – The TIADE project is a collaboration between GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power, and TNO to develop technologies and design methodologies for more efficient operation of next-generation wind turbine rotors, wind farms with huge rotor wakes, and to demonstrate them in the field.
The research wind turbine became completely operational, marking a major milestone in the TIADE project. The project’s advances will be evaluated on the full-scale 130-meter-diameter turbine that was just installed in Wieringermeer, the Netherlands. The turbine is driven by two-piece blades that can be replaced by various revolutionary tips on the outer 12 m of the blades.
Validating improvements
Using advanced measurement techniques, various novel blade add-ons such as spoilers, serrations, vortex generators, ‘turbulators,’ and blade tip upgrades will be validated. The findings will hasten the widespread adoption of rotors with higher yearly energy production and, as a result, a significantly cheaper cost of offshore wind energy.
These technologies can be used to newly produced wind turbines, but they can also be retrofitted to existing offshore wind farms. With both choices available, the technologies can be implemented in offshore wind farms as early as 2023.
The consortium comprising of GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power and TNO was established in 2020 to test new research on blade tip improvements under the three-year and ten months TIADE project, with partial funding from the ‘Topsector Energiesubsidie’ of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
