Software solution customized to site conditions; can potentially be retrofit on existing Siemens Gamesa gearless and geared offshore wind turbines

Actively dictating the wind flow in any offshore wind power plant has likely been the dream of developers and engineers since the first turbines were installed in Danish waters in 1991. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) is therefore proud to launch the Wake Adapt feature today at the WindEurope Offshore 2019 Conference & Exhibition in Copenhagen. It allows SGRE to actively adjust the heading of individual offshore wind turbines, directing the wind which flows off the individual machine in a different direction than what normally occurs. This resulting shift in direction of the wind turbine wake away from downstream wind turbines allows an increase in overall wind park performance of up to 1% in annual energy production.

"The Wake Adapt feature is about proactive problem-solving. Instead of letting the wind and wake fully dictate how much energy we can capture, we safely direct the wake - and its unfavorable effects - away from our machines across the entire power plant. Through digitalization, we can produce more energy from the same turbines, benefitting our customers, ratepayers, and society overall. SGRE is committed to innovation and improvements which ensure clean energy for generations to come," said Morten Pilgaard Rasmussen, Head of Offshore Technology at Siemens Gamesa.

On a technical level, SGRE's Wake Adapt applies wake steering techniques to reduce wake-induced production losses on offshore wind power plants by up to 10%. Remotely activated, it strategically adjusts the yaw angle of each individual offshore wind turbine when the wake of upstream wind turbines negatively affects downstream wind turbines. These offset angles deflect the wake away from downstream turbines, controlling the wind to ensure that downstream turbines receive a more powerful and undisrupted wind flow. This redistributes production across the row of turbines, increasing the performance of the entire wind power plant. The adaptations are made depending on site-specific conditions and comply with the load design envelope for the SGRE offshore wind turbines and support structures.

"What's more, we have a solution which - depending on project specific factors - can be retrofit to existing wind parks using Siemens Gamesa Direct Drive and geared G4 offshore wind turbines. As the market leader in offshore wind, Wake Adapt can improve park performance for customers serving hundreds of thousands of households," Rasmussen continues.

SGRE is collaborating with an independent research organisation, The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), to offer an alternative partner to our customers for gain verification purposes. TNO also holds a patent related to wake steering and is considered one of the first institutes to research into this area.

About Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
Siemens Gamesa is a global leader in the wind power industry, with a strong presence in all facets of the business: offshore, onshore and services. The company's advanced digital capabilities enable it to offer one of the broadest product portfolios in the sector as well as industry-leading service solutions, helping to make clean energy more affordable and reliable. With more than 99 GW intalled worldwide, Siemens Gamesa manufactures, installs and maintains wind turbines, both onshore and offshore. The company's orders backlog stands at €25.5 billion. The company is headquartered in Spain and listed on the Spanish stock exchange (trading on the Ibex-35 index).

About Siemens Gamesa Offshore
As of September 2019, SGRE has over 3,490 offshore wind turbines in operation globally with a combined capacity of more than 15.2 GW. The company's experiences reach back as far as 1991, when it established the world's first offshore wind power plant. Through a strong focus on safety and innovation, SGRE constantly strives to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy from offshore wind power.