Natural Power has invested in a wind farm modelling software. The company said its technical team has been developing new models for a more accurate prediction of wind farm performance and has produced results from its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models at wind farm scale within five to six days, rather than the 60 days previously needed.
Claude Abiven, Senior Technical Manager at Natural Power , said: “Typically our customers need an accurate picture of the likely output of the wind farms they are planning to build or buy so they can determine projected profit and hence the loan criteria. The more accurate the calculation is, the more attractive the terms for financing become – and the more easily wind power can be integrated into the overall energy mix.”
“The improved speed creates an obvious commercial advantage. No client wants to wait 60 days for modelling outcomes. More significantly, it means we can increase certainty in our calculations, which can be directly translated in to cost savings. When the bill for a wind farm runs in to hundreds of millions, that’s an important factor – and a potential game changer for the industry.”
To overcome the limitations of existing techniques, Natural Power worked in partnership with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FE-UP) in Portugal and Renewable Energy Systems (RES) to develop a more advanced CFD. While developing the model, Natural Power realised it would not be able to run effectively on its existing server, and has therefore selected a SuperMicro supercomputer powered by Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 v3, the company explained, adding that internal assessments have shown that this runs 1.7 times faster than the previous installation.
Image: Natural Power