Grand Challenges in the Digitalisation of Wind Energy

Andrew Clifton, Sarah Barber, Andrew Bray, Peter Enevoldsen, Jason Fields, Anna Sempreviva, Lindy Williams, Julian Quick, Mike Purdue, Philip Totaro, Yu Ding

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus Citations

Abstract

The availability of large amounts of data is starting to impact how the wind energy community works. From turbine design to plant layout, construction, commissioning, and maintenance and operations, new processes and business models are springing up. This is the process of digitalisation, and it promises improved efficiency and greater insight, ultimately leading to increased energy capture and significant savings for wind plant operators, thus reducing the levelised cost of energy. Digitalisation is also impacting research, where it is both easing and speeding up collaboration, as well as making research results more accessible. This is the basis for innovations that can be taken up by end users. But digitalisation faces barriers. This paper uses a literature survey and the results from an expert elicitation to identify three common industry-wide barriers to the digitalisation of wind energy. Comparison with other networked industries and past and ongoing initiatives to foster digitalisation show that these barriers can only be overcome by wide-reaching strategic efforts, and so we see these as "grand challenges" in the digitalisation of wind energy. They are, first, creating FAIR data frameworks; secondly, connecting people and data to foster innovation; and finally, enabling collaboration and competition between organisations. The grand challenges in the digitalisation of wind energy thus include a mix of technical, cultural, and business aspects that will need collaboration between businesses, academia, and government to solve. Working to mitigate them is the beginning of a dynamic process that will position wind energy as an essential part of a global clean energy future.
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)947-974
Number of pages28
JournalWind Energy Science
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

See NREL/JA-5000-81087 for article as published in Wind Energy Science Discussions

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5000-87006

Keywords

  • artificial intelligence
  • data management
  • data science
  • data standards
  • digital twins
  • digitalisation
  • innovation
  • machine learning
  • wind power

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