TU Delft Hosts the Premier Academic Wind Conference Torque 2020 Online

The European Academy of Wind Energy first held the conference entitled ‘The Science of Making Torque from Wind’ (or TORQUE, for short) at Delft in 2004. The conference has gone from strength to strength and is probably the largest scientific conference devoted to wind energy in the world. History came full circle and the eighth edition, TORQUE 2020 was due to be held in Delft again in the spring of 2020. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the hosting of a physical conference was no longer possible, so the host, the TU Delft Wind Energy Institute (DUWIND) moved the conference fully online in late September of 2020. 

Following an extensive peer review process, nearly 320 full papers were accepted for publication in the proceedings. The online conference had almost 600 delegates registered and consisted of three plenary sessions, 28 parallel oral sessions and five poster sessions which went well despite some initial technical problems. Some lively discussions ensued in both the presentation and poster sessions. The conference was a great success despite the constraints imposed by the global pandemic.

The good news is that TU Delft will have the opportunity to host the conference in person (hopefully!) in 2022 where we intend to showcase the activities of the TU Delft Wind Energy Institute to our visiting delegates.