At the March 2023 meeting of the ForWind board, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Avila from the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg was accepted as a new member of ForWind. The main focus of Kerstin Avila's research and teaching is the "Fundamentals of Turbulence and Complex Systems". This fundamental research will contribute to shaping the aerodynamic development of future wind turbines. The ForWind WindLab, with its turbulent wind tunnel that went into operation in 2017, offers optimal conditions for this. Before accepting the appointment to the University of Oldenburg, she conducted research at the University of Bremen and the Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering IWT Bremen.
At the last meeting of the ForWind board, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johanna Myrzik from the University of Bremen was welcomed as a new member of ForWind. In 2018, Myrzik took over the chair of automation technology (in energy supply) and the management of the Institute for Automation Technology at the University of Bremen, Department 1 Physics/Electrical Engineering, as a university professor. The institute develops new, intelligent technologies, methods, algorithms, and services that enable intelligent, adaptive, and reliable interaction between generation, storage, grid management, and demand across all voltage levels. Interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research in energy networks is the hallmark of the Automation Technology Professorship, with a focus on automation of future energy networks. With her research, Myrzik complements the broad spectrum of engineering and physical research in wind energy within ForWind.
At the last meeting of the ForWind executive board, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Haist from the Leibniz University Hannover was welcomed as a new member of ForWind. Haist succeeded Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ludger Lohaus at the Institute for Concrete Construction in 2019. The research of Prof. Haist is focused on novel digital concrete production and quality assurance techniques, the development of novel multifunctional materials as well as investigation and modelling of the mechanical properties such as fatigue and creep. His research complements the broad spectrum of engineering and physical research in the field of wind energy within ForWind.
Using a digital twin to save material, support maintenance, reduce costs and increase wind yield: At the University of Bremen, the ForWind members BIK (Bremen Institute for Integrated Product Development) and IALB (Institute for Electrical Drives, Power Electronics and Components) have started their research on this topic together with eight partners. The aim: the ecologically and economically optimised operation of wind turbines.
ForWind is the joint Center for Wind Energy Research of the Universities of Oldenburg, Hannover and Bremen.
Within the Energy Research Centre of Lower Saxony (EFZN) ForWind covers the EFZN line of wind energy research. The EFZN is a joint scientific centre of the universities of Braunschweig, Clausthal, Göttingen, Hannover and Oldenburg.
Together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES, ForWind forms the Research Alliance Wind Energy.