The Wind Energy Section carries out research and educational activities on a wide range of topics to advance the uptake of wind energy technology in many different environments, including onshore, offshore and urban applications. These activities include: gaining a better understanding of the wind inflow conditions, how the wind impacts the aerodynamic loads and performance of the turbines, how turbines can be made more efficient, how turbine noise might be mitigated, how turbines within and between wind farm clusters perform, and what implications this has at the energy system level.
The Section has developed world-leading expertise in a number of technology areas including offshore (fixed and floating), airborne and the built environment. More recently, there has been a focus on how wind energy can best be integrated into the energy system considering the complementary roles of other renewables such as solar power, energy storage and hydrogen.
The Wind Energy section provides courses at both BSc and MSc level which are used in the teaching programmes of the Aerospace Engineering faculty but also more widely across the university and beyond such as within the MSc in Sustainable Energy Technology and the European Wind Energy Master. The Section also provides external teaching courses for professionals such as those covering offshore wind energy and aeoracoustics.