Researchers at DTU Wind Energy have received a DKK 6.1m grant to help them determine how the Chinese can get the most out of wind farms situated in mountainous regions.
By Signe Gry Braad
In mid-May, three researchers from DTU Wind Energy travelled to China to visit three carefully selected wind farms situated in mountainous regions. The trip was the first step in a new Sino-Danish wind project that has received DKK 6.1m from the Danish support programme EUDP, which is targeted at new energy technologies.
The aim of the project which runs until 2016 is to determine how Chinese wind turbines situated in mountainous regions can best be exploited. Collaboration will include an expansion of the WAsP software developed by DTU Wind Energy, currently used to design wind farms.
Associate Professor Dr. Tech. Wen Zhong Shen from DTU Wind Energy is one of the coordinators and sees great potential in the project for Denmark and China.
“China is interested in exploiting Denmark’s sustainable energy know-how built up over the past 40 years. We, in turn, can forge strong contacts with China’s biggest player in the wind energy market: North-West Investigation and Design Institute. A contact that will hopefully pave the way for new collaborative agreements for Danish research and industry,” assesses Wen Zhong Shen—a native Chinese who considers his background a huge advantage.
“I have an excellent network in China and actually wrote the funding application together with a Chinese colleague from Hohai University.”
Huge market
China is the world’s biggest energy consumer and carbon emission emitter—a ranking that does not look like changing any time soon. On the contrary. But the Chinese themselves are keenly aware that immediate action is required if the country’s energy consumption is to become more sustainable.
They have therefore established the clear target of deriving 15 per cent of the country’s future energy supply from sustainable energy. The restructuring process is already well underway and China has now established a position as the world’s biggest market for wind power. The market therefore holds huge export potential for Denmark—both in terms of production and consultancy.
In addition to DTU Wind Energy, the project partners include the Danish software and consultancy firm EMD International, Hohai University and North-West Investigation and Design Institute—a kind of Chinese counterpart to EUDP.
Initially, researchers from DTU are concentrating on the Chinese market, but the plan is to apply the new software models developed on the basis of the collected data to other markets.