Before the year 2020 offshore wind energy has to be competitive with fossil energy. To reach that goal still a large cost reduction has to be achieved. On top of that the reliability and predictability of the wind energy generated offshore has to fulfill the requirements necessary to allow large-scale grid integration. The reliability requirements can be translated directly to the reliability of the single wind turbines in and the control of the large offshore wind farms. The reliability of the turbine is dependent on the reliability of the components and the control features of the turbines. 

In order to increase the reliability of the components of the turbines and at the same time achieve a reduction in costs the available design tools have to be improved considerably.

Especially the aerodynamic and aero-elastic models used in the currently available design tools have limitations with respect to accuracy for the design of very reliable and economical offshore turbines, which probably will be larger than the current largest prototype turbines of 5-6 MW.

Furthermore extra attention has to be paid to constructional details and materials used. In the area of fiber reinforced plastics further research is needed to enable the designers to develop cost effective large reliable components.

Besides the new knowledge described above industry more and more has a need for integral design software that enables them to prepare integral design of the turbine including all the necessary details of components as towers, blades and nacelle foundations. Of course this software has to be accepted and certified by the certifying bodies.

In spite of the fact that in the Netherlands there is only a limited turbine manufacturing activity left, the R&D community has a strong international position. On top of that the Dutch offshore industry is heavily involved in the installation and design of offshore wind farms  

The reasons mentioned above gave cause to identify in the National Long Term Energy R&D program a research area: New wind turbine concepts, components and materials.

In order to execute the research in this area a R&D-consortium is formed: The partners in the consortium are:

• ECN-Unit Wind Energy (co-ordinator)
• DUWIND, Delft University Wind Energy Research Institute
• WMC, Knowledge Centre Wind Turbine Materials and Constructions.

As a subcontractor to ECN, the University of Twente and the University Groningen are involved in the research activities.

The consortium formulated an R&D program that will be executed in the next four to five years. The working title of the program is INNWIND. (INNovation in WIND energy)

More information can be found on the INNWIND website: http://www.innwind.nl