There are already more than one million wind turbines operating globally, and a further mass expansion is expected — a signal of the success of the technology in generating cost-efficient and sustainable energy. Across Europe, more than 12% of energy supplies come from wind power.

The sheer scale of the wind energy network means efficiency is paramount. Small losses in performance and kilowatt generation are quickly magnified.

Dr Sergio Campobasso, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, is at the centre of an international, multidisciplinary team that is taking on one of the biggest challenges for wind energy: the erosion of turbine blades caused by atmospheric precipitation.

“Latest studies suggest that the erosion of wind turbine blades leads to an annual loss in energy output of between 0.5% and 4%,” says Sergio. “Even a 0.5% loss constitutes a sizeable revenue loss, with cost implications in terms of lifetime return of investment. Equally, or sometimes more importantly, there are maintenance, repair and downtime costs which are substantial, particularly when it comes to offshore installations.”

Recent and ongoing research using computational and experimental fluid dynamics has provided a clear picture of the significance of erosion and its implications for the energy sector globally.

“We then started looking into technologies to predict and mitigate blade erosion, working with data from the UK Met Office (Hazelrigg) weather station and wind turbine located on our campus. This has led to new guidelines essential to developing turbine digital twins to predict erosion and optimise maintenance costs.”

The work is part of a targeted project run by the International Energy Agency involving a consortium of universities, research centres and engineering businesses from across 12 countries. Lancaster has been working closely with DTU in Denmark, Cornell University in the US, and AIST in Japan, making use of expertise from other disciplines. As a result, effective technologies for minimising erosion are under development.

“We are looking at adding and testing a further control element which senses weather conditions and allows the turbine to alter its rotational speed to avoid damage to the leading edge areas of the turbine blades. Progressing our research and continuing to collaborate with our UK and overseas partners will enable new breakthroughs in this sector, crucial to the further growth of wind power in Europe and other sites with great erosion potential, such as East and South-east Asia.”

This article was initially featured in issue six of Lancaster University's Global Research Newsletter.

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