Østerild in Denmark, a Practicum for Tomorrow’s Wind Energy Research

Østerild in north-western Jutland in Denmark is regarded as a national test centre for wind turbines. This test centre will function in coordination with the existing test station in Riso at Hovsore in Western Denmark and lies south of Lemvig.

While the test centre at Riso has facilities to test wind turbines up to 160 meters in Height, the new center will have the facility to test wind turbines up to 250 meters in height.

The national test centre at Østerild is contrived over a 4 KM long site and will incorporate seven wind turbines of up to 250 metres in height and each costing over several 100 million Danish kroner, for testing purposes. The site will also feature two 250-meters-high meteorological masts for testing distinct wind conditions with appropriate meteorological measurement features. The location difference between Østerild and Høvsøre with varying landscaping and wind turbulence features will allow exhaustive testing of aerodynamic designs of wind turbines. The plotted test centre will comprise a number of wind tunnels to enable virtual testing of wind turbine designs using supercomputers.

The test centre, which is expected to be ready for grid connectivity by the first half of 2013, will incorporate seven 16 MW wind turbines or a total of 112 MW capacity and the test centre will be coupled to a 150 kV grid. The grid connectivity will allow the researchers to test the reactions of wind turbines to the variations in grid frequency and help them hit upon techniques to avert extrication of wind turbines during disparity in grid frequency. In addition to testing of mega wind turbines the test centre is outfitted to learn about the CO₂ exchanges in the nearby woods, countryside and atmosphere, the basic elements of climatic changes. The installed features will make Østerild a practicum for tomorrow’s wind energy research.