R&D for onshore and offshore wind energy

Since the first wind farm opened in 1982 on the Greek island of Kythnos, the industry has developed a continuous series of solutions to make both onshore and offshore wind energy more reliable, sustainable, cost-effective and efficient. And there’s plenty still to come. Can your solutions offer added value? Sirris supports you with research, development, testing and demonstration projects – whichever part of the value chain you’re in.

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Wind energy surge calls for innovative solutions

Wind energy is powering the European Green Deal. To illustrate, wind already represents over 15% of Europe’s electricity generation and this share will rapidly rise in the coming years. To speed up the process, we need to reduce the levelised cost of energy (LCOE), create storage technologies, optimise maintenance and operations, increase performance through digitisation, and go all in all sustainable solutions. Are you up for the task?

Support for the entire wind energy value chain

We’re a hands-on companion for start-ups, scale-ups, established SMEs and large (international) enterprises, as well as innovation clusters and governments that are already active in the wind industry, or plan on entering this growth industry. In short, everybody is welcome to knock on our door: developers, component suppliers, OEMs, operators, O&M service providers, EPCI actors, etc.

Propelling the wind of change

Advice & consulting

Share your plans and aspirations, and we’ll give you objective guidance in return. From tech choices to innovation management and business development, we have your back.

Training

Our tailored internal masterclasses for the onshore and offshore wind industry help engineers and project teams to grow within their role. Think about market trends, technology and more.

Technological & lab support

Get your technological support from our pool of 160 multidisciplinary experts. Need to test your innovation? We also provide extensive lab support tailored to your needs.

Financial impact analysis

Contact us for a full sensitivity analysis. The goal: to assess which input parameters from your solution have the greatest influence on the levelised cost of energy.

Wind turbine services

Climatic validation testing of large wind turbine components

Leading edge erosion detection and monitoring of wind turbine blades

Design of experiment for performance impact investigations on wind turbines

Wind turbine (aerodynamic) performance boost using blade add-ons

Wind turbine airfoil & blade design and analysis (using CFD, aeroelastic simulation tools, wake models)

The OWI-Lab by Sirris, VUB and UGent

Sirris is the proud co-founder of the OWI-Lab, an expertise and knowledge consortium. This initiative was set up in 2010 to initiate and support research, development and innovation projects with the Belgian wind energy value chain. This R&D collaboration includes fundamental, applied and industry-driven research & development. It also provides access to testing and demonstration opportunities in real environments.

Interesting Sirris Labs

Ongoing projects

CLOUD4WAKE | Data enhanced simulation of wakes for all wind turbines in the North Sea nudged by SCADA data deployed on cloud

BLEEPID | Towards improved reliability and reduced costs of offshore wind by blade-leading-edge erosion prediction and drone-based inspection

Rainbow | understand erosion of blades due to rain and lightning

SeaFD | Realistic CFD wind load computations for offshore wind turbines

PhairywinD | Ensuring a strong academic home base for the future Belgian offshore sector

Get inspired by these business cases

Case

Blade damage monitoring in Otary's wind farm Rentel

In offshore wind farms blade damage caused by erosion is a frequent cause for blade failure and power loss. To offer a durable solution, Sirris has developed a methodology, based on the detection of changes in the aeroacoustics response of the wind turbine blades due to erosion. This system is currently operational on one of the wind turbines in Rentel, one of Otary's offshore wind farms.

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Case

Siemens Energy conducts cold-start tests on wind industry transformer

After a successful test series, Siemens Energy was able to demonstrate that a new step-up transformer for wind industry applications can also start in cold conditions, to improve the cold-start procedure and to reduce waiting times after a cold period.

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Case

Cold start validation of 6-MW turbine component for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) is a world leader in the development and production of multi-megawatt wind turbines for use on land and at sea. The company aims to guarantee reliable and robust ...

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