Vidi for Axelle Viré and her floating wind turbines

News - 01 July 2022

Associate Professor Wind Energy Axelle Viré is one of two AE researchers who will receive a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council NWO. Viré has been awarded the Vidi grant for her research into floating offshore wind turbines. This type of wind energy plays a large part in the plans for a climate neutral Europe in 2050. Viré will focus on   physics-informed data-driven modelling and control of floating wind turbines.

I am extremely grateful for this Vidi and very excited about this new research line. This funding will bring the work of my team to a new level. I can’t wait to get started and make an important contribution to the energy transition.

Axelle Viré

Floating offshore wind energy

Floating offshore wind energy has been identified as a key enabler to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. The dynamics, however, is vastly different from that of existing bottom-mounted wind turbines. In the case of floating wind energy wind turbines are mounted on floating support structures that are moored to the seabed. This enables the installation of wind turbines in much deeper seas that what is currently possible, hence unlocking unprecedented wind resources. At the moment a barrier to the deployment of large floating wind farms is the level of flow unsteadiness and associated uncertainty around the rotor. If these unsteady dynamics are not controlled properly, they may lead to severe loss of performance and increased fatigue loads. However, controllers currently omit certain physics which limits their effectiveness for floating wind turbines. In this Vidi research, Viré will bridge for the first time the high-fidelity coupled dynamics of floating wind turbines with real-time control using data-driven surrogate models.

The NWO Talent Programme  

In total NWO awards eight Vidi grants to researchers at TU Delft. The Vidi is aimed at experienced researchers who have carried out successful research for several years after obtaining their PhD. Together with the Veni and Vici grants, Vidi is part of the NWO Talent Programme. Read more about the talent programme and the Vidi grants on the the NWO website.

More information

Dr. Axelle Viré, Associate Professor Wind Energy. Contact.

Read the TU Delft press release about all the winners at TU Delft.

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