Space for over 130 scientists, a 30-metre-long measuring section and wind speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour: the Research Laboratory for Turbulence and Wind Energy Systems (WindLab) at the University of Oldenburg was inaugurated today in the presence of Lower Saxony's Minister for Science and Culture, Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić.
"The sustainable supply of energy from renewable sources is a key challenge of our time," explained the Minister. "Renewable energies have been successfully researched at the University of Oldenburg for many years. With the WindLab, excellent conditions have been created to further strengthen research in the field of wind energy."
The centrepiece of the new building with 2,300 square metres of floor space is a turbulent wind tunnel, which will be used to investigate the interaction of atmospheric currents with wind farms, wind turbines and their components. The aim is to obtain precise data on the operating behaviour of wind turbines and large offshore wind farms. The total costs of around 20 million euros are being borne equally by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony.
"With the WindLab and the associated turbulence wind tunnel, we have a unique research infrastructure for wind energy," emphasised University President Prof. Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper at the opening ceremony. Both the technical equipment and the synergies resulting from the collaboration of the interdisciplinary team of experts are outstanding.
The four-storey WindLab provides space for physicists, meteorologists, oceanographers and engineering scientists. The new wind tunnel will be used by researchers from the Universities of Oldenburg and Hanover, the Jade University of Applied Sciences, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (Bremerhaven) and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (Göttingen). Oldenburg scientists led by wind energy expert Prof. Dr Martin Kühn, turbulence researcher Prof. Dr Joachim Peinke and energy meteorologist Dr Detlev Heinemann were responsible for the content of the proposal for the new research building.
In comparison to wind tunnels, such as those used in aviation, the turbulent Oldenburg wind tunnel can simulate wind fields as they occur in nature. The investigations are intended to help increase the efficiency of wind farms and avoid technical and financial risks. "Our big vision is to achieve a new quality in wind energy research through the interaction of measurements in the open field, numerical simulations on mainframe computers and the new experimental possibilities in the turbulent wind tunnel," explained Peinke.
The WindLab was designed by Stuttgart-based architects HammesKrauseArchitekten.