Smart Windpark Laboratory: Infrastructure for Application-oriented Wind Energy Research

Due to the technological advances of wind energy utilization and conversion systems, power generation based on wind energy has long since been recognized as one of the most promising solutions to contribute to a more sustainable energy supply. The increasing phase-out of fossil fuel based conventional power plants leads to new challenges on how to operate future power grids. To support research efforts towards meeting the upcoming challenges a new laboratory will be founded with the main objective of establishing novel and innovative investigation opportunities for application-oriented wind energy research and close cooperation with industry and academia. The infrastructure will include a laboratory-scale modularly reconfigurable wind farm and feature high-performance control systems for accurate real-time emulation of aerodynamics as well as wind farm energy management. This paper presents the proposed concept, discusses present demands and requirements as well as points out future research capabilities by means of simulation results.