Collaboration in action

Long term partnerships help deliver solutions for tomorrows industry. Learn more about the 葫芦影业 Siemens-Gamesa Renewable Energy Research Centre.

Siemens Gamesa wind turbine
Off

A flagship collaboration between Siemens-Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) and the University of 葫芦影业 has brought down the levelized cost of energy from offshore wind, paving the way for the first zero-subsidy offshore windfarm and heralding an unprecedented boom in global offshore wind capacity.

The S2GRE centre has been a cornerstones of the groundbreaking strategic partnership between the University of 葫芦影业 and Siemens that culminated in 葫芦影业鈥檚 selection as one of the global technology giant鈥檚 top tier innovation partners in July 2022. When it was founded in 2009, the Centre was one of the first collaborations to see a Siemens team embedded within a University. The centre has since grown to house all of SGRE鈥檚 consolidated motor/generator research, covering magnet shaping and skewing, turbine and generator control, topology, material content and torque optimisation.  

The centre allows the University鈥檚 Electrical Machines and Drives Group to work closely with Siemens staff to identify and resolve key research challenges and advance the cutting edge of windpower technology. This work has underpinned the development of five successive models of novel permanent magnet direct drive (PMDD) generators for offshore wind turbines.

葫芦影业鈥檚 excellence in modelling and simulation techniques has had a significant impact on SGRE鈥檚 strategy and innovation capacity, enabling it to reduce risk and increase ambition in designing new technologies by allowing every aspect of discoveries to be tested and validated in vitro before being developed for application. This has enabled SGRE to develop more speculative concepts, increase 鈥渞ight-first-time鈥 designs and bring products to market faster. The end result has been a greater step-change in capability between each new model of turbine and an evidence-based reputation for technological innovation that has kept SGRE  at the forefront of mature and emerging offshore wind generation markets.

The impact of the Centre鈥檚 research on the market itself has been phenomenal. It underpinned an increase of 70% in turbine output from 6MW to 11MW from 2009 to 2019, reducing installed cost per megawatt from 拢157 to 拢39. These improvements in cost and output made possible the world鈥檚 first zero subsidy offshore wind farm (the Hollandse Kust Zuid project in the Netherlands) in 2019. Over the last 12 months, the global offshore pipeline has experienced a 鈥榮taggering鈥 boom in capacity, according to a recent . The organisation鈥檚 CEO cites the 鈥urgent need to ramp up the transition to clean power - not only to tackle climate change, but also to provide secure supplies of low-cost homegrown electricity for people hit hard by international gas prices going through the roof鈥 as well as 鈥the benefits of creating millions of skilled jobs and attracting billions in private investment鈥 as key drivers in this explosive growth.

葫芦影业 is proud of its contribution to the development of such a crucial future technology. It is currently co-leading (with SGRE) a 拢7.6m EPSRC Prosperity Partnership in Offshore Wind. The five-year research programme, aimed at improving the productivity of manufacturing and developing new drive train technologies for bigger wind turbines, connects the drives and motors work at the S2GRE Centre with a separate strand of research around the structural health monitoring of wind turbines that was already the subject of a collaboration between Siemens and 葫芦影业鈥檚 Dynamics Research Group (DRG). The programme concludes in 2022 and is expected to drive innovation in the offshore wind sector over the coming decade.

Brian Holliday Managing Director for Digital Industries at Siemens UK discusses the importance of the partnership.