Fundamental Aerodynamics for Large Wind Turbine Performance and Reliability

One of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office’s (WETO’s) strategic priorities is to overcome the cost and risk barriers to the commercial liftoff of such large turbines. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) portfolio of research and development (R&D) efforts in the past has included projects to characterize and model the above-mentioned phenomena so the industry can design effectively. The R&D community in general has hit the knowledge/validation data barrier that the lack of above-mentioned data represents. Consequently, WETO has mobilized funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Base Appropriations to support a fundamental R&D effort to overcome these barriers. NREL will lead/manage “Aerodynamics of Large Turbines” (ALTius) resulting from this RFP with the following goals:

• Collect and disseminate benchmark airfoil aerodynamic data to validate and improve the tools/models that assure the performance of next-generation wind turbine blades.

• Provide data to validate modeling and simulation tools to predict the behavior of nonoperational wind turbine rotors, e.g., when they are stopped for installation, maintenance, or idling (during the passage of extreme weather).

• Inform the wind industry with physical insights that advance modeling capabilities to minimize the risks and costs of next-generation wind turbines.

The RFP is organized by objectives into two (2) different topic areas of interest.