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Insects can halve wind-turbine power

Author

Listed:
  • Gustave P. Corten

    (Unit of Wind Energy, Energy Centre of The Netherlands)

  • Herman F. Veldkamp

    (NEG Micon A/S)

Abstract

For no apparent reason, the power of wind turbines operating in high winds may drop, causing production losses of up to 25 per cent1. Here we use a new flow-visualization technique to analyse airflow separation over the blades and find that insects caught on the leading edges in earlier low-wind periods are to blame. These potentially catastrophic power glitches can be prevented simply by cleaning the blades.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustave P. Corten & Herman F. Veldkamp, 2001. "Insects can halve wind-turbine power," Nature, Nature, vol. 412(6842), pages 41-42, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:412:y:2001:i:6842:d:10.1038_35083698
    DOI: 10.1038/35083698
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    Cited by:

    1. Sagol, Ece & Reggio, Marcelo & Ilinca, Adrian, 2013. "Issues concerning roughness on wind turbine blades," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 514-525.
    2. Ram, Krishnil R. & Lal, Sunil P. & Ahmed, M. Rafiuddin, 2019. "Design and optimization of airfoils and a 20 kW wind turbine using multi-objective genetic algorithm and HARP_Opt code," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 56-67.
    3. Momeni, Farhang & Sabzpoushan, Seyedali & Valizadeh, Reza & Morad, Mohammad Reza & Liu, Xun & Ni, Jun, 2019. "Plant leaf-mimetic smart wind turbine blades by 4D printing," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 329-351.
    4. Yang, Muchen & Xiao, Zhixiang, 2019. "Distributed roughness induced transition on wind-turbine airfoils simulated by four-equation k-ω-γ-Ar transition model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1166-1177.
    5. Eleni Douvi & Dimitra Douvi, 2023. "Aerodynamic Characteristics of Wind Turbines Operating under Hazard Environmental Conditions: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-43, November.
    6. André D. Thess & Philipp Lengsfeld, 2022. "Side Effects of Wind Energy: Review of Three Topics—Status and Open Questions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Andrius Kulsinskas & Petar Durdevic & Daniel Ortiz-Arroyo, 2021. "Internal Wind Turbine Blade Inspections Using UAVs: Analysis and Design Issues," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Verma, Amrit Shankar & Yan, Jiquan & Hu, Weifei & Jiang, Zhiyu & Shi, Wei & Teuwen, Julie J.E., 2023. "A review of impact loads on composite wind turbine blades: Impact threats and classification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    9. Dollinger, Christoph & Balaresque, Nicholas & Gaudern, Nicholas & Gleichauf, Daniel & Sorg, Michael & Fischer, Andreas, 2019. "IR thermographic flow visualization for the quantification of boundary layer flow disturbances due to the leading edge condition," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 709-721.
    10. Han, Woobeom & Kim, Jonghwa & Kim, Bumsuk, 2018. "Effects of contamination and erosion at the leading edge of blade tip airfoils on the annual energy production of wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 817-823.
    11. Matthias Schramm & Hamid Rahimi & Bernhard Stoevesandt & Kim Tangager, 2017. "The Influence of Eroded Blades on Wind Turbine Performance Using Numerical Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Wenjie Wang & Yu Xue & Chengkuan He & Yongnian Zhao, 2022. "Review of the Typical Damage and Damage-Detection Methods of Large Wind Turbine Blades," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-31, August.
    13. Mohammad Hassan Khanjanpour & Akbar A. Javadi, 2020. "Experimental and CFD Analysis of Impact of Surface Roughness on Hydrodynamic Performance of a Darrieus Hydro (DH) Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    14. Dalili, N. & Edrisy, A. & Carriveau, R., 2009. "A review of surface engineering issues critical to wind turbine performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 428-438, February.

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