forwindadmin | ForWind

Wind Energy Research Consortium at WindEnergy 2026 in Hamburg

forwindadmin — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:38:11 +0000

From September 22 to 25, 2026, the Wind Energy Research Network—comprising the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES), and ForWind—will be represented at WindEnergy Hamburg. The joint presentation will take place at the State of Lower Saxony’s booth in Hall B5, booth numbers 402–410.

The three partners will present their respective research focuses, as well as joint projects and the shared research infrastructure that distinguishes the research network as a whole. At its section of the booth, ForWind will showcase the research infrastructure at the three university locations—Oldenburg, Hanover, and Bremen—as well as the current research work being conducted in the Living Lab 70 GW Offshore Wind.

WindEnergy Hamburg is considered one of the world’s leading trade shows for the onshore and offshore wind industry, providing a platform for discussing research with representatives from industry, politics, and academia.

Student Research on Wind Energy at the Bundestag

forwindadmin — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:53:16 +0000

Nils Torben Schäfer, a master’s student at ForWind Oldenburg, was selected by an independent jury for the exhibition “Posters in the Bundestag: Academic Freedom – The Freedom to Research” – as one of 44 entries submitted by students from 28 German universities. From June 26 to July 17, 2026, his poster and a video he produced himself on the “Hybrid Lambda Blade Design” were on display in the lobby of the Paul Löbe House at the German Bundestag. He had already worked on this topic in his bachelor’s thesis, which he completed at Munich University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with ForWind Oldenburg, and the content of the poster reflects the findings of his thesis.

At the grand opening on June 25, he personally presented his research to members of parliament, other early-career researchers, and guests. The Hybrid Lambda concept aims to optimize rotor blades for different wind conditions: higher energy yield in light winds and limited loads in strong winds.

The exhibition, organized by the Berlin University Alliance, highlights the contributions that students are already making to the major issues surrounding the energy transition. At ForWind, part of the support program for early-career researchers is to enable and support independent research work early on in their studies. In November 2026, selected projects will also be showcased at the European Parliament as part of the Erasmus+ project “Posters in Brussels.”

TTH 2.0: Funding Approved for Expansion of the Hannover Structural Testing Center

forwindadmin — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:01:23 +0000

The Test Center for Structural Systems in Hanover (TTH), part of the ForWind research infrastructure network, is receiving a grant of approximately 11.6 million euros from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE). The funding will enable the comprehensive modernization and expansion of the large-scale infrastructure at Leibniz University Hannover—in close cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES).

Since 2014, the TTH has been conducting experimental research on support structures and foundation elements for wind turbines. The unique geotechnical test pit and a 3D cantilever span enable large-scale experiments on onshore and offshore support structures. The results are used to validate computational models, optimize structures, and improve their structural safety. ““This success is the result of close collaboration between the TTH team and our faculty—with the support of the university—and demonstrates the trust that the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy places in LUH as a long-established and successful center for wind energy research,” notes Prof. Dr. sc. ETH Elyas Ghafoori, Executive Director of the TTH and a member of ForWind, emphasizes.

With this new funding phase, the TTH is responding to the wind energy industry’s increased testing requirements: Plans include, among other things, a semi-automated foundation test pit for testing layered soils and high bearing densities, as well as new testing technology for higher loads. A new facility is being built to provide additional testing capabilities for loads of up to 10 meganewtons using state-of-the-art measurement technology—a response to the continuous increase in the size of wind turbines.

“We look back on 12 years of exciting research using unique large-scale testing technology, funded entirely by third-party grants, and look forward to new challenges,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Raimund Rolfes, co-founder of the TTH, co-initiator of ForWind, and director of the Institute for Statics and Dynamics.

Five institutes from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy at Leibniz University Hannover are involved in the TTH. In addition to the Structural Engineering Department of Fraunhofer IWES, the ForWind Hannover coordination office is also located there. This makes the TTH a central hub for wind energy research in Hannover-Marienwerder, where other outstanding research institutions—such as the Coastal Research Center and the Large Wave Flume—are also located.

There are currently no vacancies

forwindadmin — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:45:09 +0000

David Onnen Wins the Oldenburg Science Slam

forwindadmin — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:16:59 +0000

At the 14th Science Slam hosted by the University of Oldenburg, David Onnen, a doctoral student in the Wind Energy Systems (WESys) research group at ForWind, took first place. With his presentation “The Social Life of Wind Turbines: A Literary Search for Clues,” he captivated an audience of 320 guests on June 13—and won “The Golden Brain,” a prize worth 500 euros.

For his ten-minute slam performance, Onnen chose an unusual format: He rapped and recited poems he had written himself to bring his research on wind turbines to the stage. The audience rated the performances by their applause—and crowned Onnen the winner of the evening.

This isn’t David Onnen’s first foray into the science communication scene: Last year, he took part in the “Hirn vom Hahn” pub science event.

The University of Oldenburg’s Science Slam takes place annually and brings researchers from various disciplines onto the stage to present complex scientific topics in an entertaining way.

New method for estimating the load on large wind turbines

forwindadmin — Tue, 05 May 2026 11:25:39 +0000

Wind turbines are getting bigger and bigger. As a result, their components are subjected to ever-increasing loads, such as sudden gusts of wind and other turbulence. A team from the University of Oldenburg, together with partners from ICM – Institut Chemnitzer Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. and the manufacturer Nordex, has now made important progress in describing these loads. In three articles published in the journal Wind Energy Science, the researchers led by turbulence expert Prof. Dr. Joachim Peinke from the Center for Wind Energy Research – Forwind describe a new concept that can be used to describe the mechanical forces on rotors better than previous standard models. “We are thus providing a potential tool for load assessments that can be used in the planning and design of wind turbines,” explains Peinke.

The rotor surface of an offshore wind turbine – the circular area that is swept by the rotor blades as they rotate – can now reach a diameter of more than 200 meters. At full load, such wind turbines generate an output of 20 megawatts – enough to supply 200,000 people with electricity. A particular challenge of the growth in size is that the turbines and their parts are constantly bending due to changing wind forces. These deformations cause the material to fatigue, which can lead to cracks or even fractures. “Until now, manufacturers have assumed for the sake of simplicity that gusts always hit the entire rotor surface evenly,” explains co-author Jörg Schwarte from Nordex. This assumption was sufficient for smaller turbines, but turbulent wind conditions play a greater role in wear for larger wind turbines. The new finding of the current collaborative study: sudden gusts of wind concentrated in small spatial areas are the decisive factor for material fatigue. In order to better adapt wind turbines to these loads, manufacturers therefore need a better mathematical description of the wind and its fluctuations over the rotor.

The team has now proposed a new measure for the effect of local gusts in three publications. The researchers developed a method to calculate the force on the rotor blades from the current wind conditions – experts refer to this as the wind field. They describe the load using a simple variable, which they call the center of pressure. “If the wind flow is uniform, the center of pressure is exactly in the middle of the rotor surface,” explains Peinke. However, if a gust of wind only affects part of the rotor surface, the center of pressure moves away from the center, causing the rotor blades to bend more and creating a torque on the nacelle of the turbine.

In order to develop the new load concept, the team used measurement data from modern turbines as well as detailed wind data from the 1980s, which had been recorded by several measuring masts as part of the GROWIAN project in Schleswig-Holstein. Dr. Jan Friedrich from the University of Oldenburg used this data to reconstruct wind fields above the rotor surface. The researchers used this to carry out so-called aeroelastic simulations, in which they calculated the wind flows and the bending wind turbines simultaneously.

The researchers then used complex flow simulations to prove that the design of the center of pressure describes the actual loads on the system well. “Although we were able to use the university’s high-performance computing cluster for this, the simulations for large systems can only be calculated in detail for a few minutes,” reports Marcel Bock, PhD student at the University of Oldenburg and first author of one of the specialist articles. In the third paper, a team led by Peinke and doctoral student Daniela Moreno created a stochastic model for the center of pressure, which simplifies the calculations and could enable manufacturers to carry out long-term simulations over several years in the future.

“Particularly strong bending occurs when the center of pressure reaches the outer area of the rotor surface,” explains Dr. Carsten Schubert from the ICM. The team reports that such violent events are not detected by the control systems of current turbines and are therefore not mitigated. This could now be possible thanks to the new studies. The results are also helpful for the design of wind turbines, reports Oldenburg wind researcher Dr. Matthias Wächter: “The manufacturers estimate all expected bending of the material during a 20-year service life and plan the material and material thickness of the components accordingly.” Until now, there have been major uncertainties in this process – mainly because the wind conditions could not be calculated with sufficient accuracy. “Reducing these uncertainties would be a great benefit, as premature component failures are a major cost factor in wind energy,” says co-author Gritt Pokriefke from Nordex. New, detailed wind measurements are currently being carried out at the WiValdi research wind farm on the Elbe, in which ForWind is involved.

The publications are largely the result of the PASTA project (Precise design methods for complex coupled vibration systems of modern wind turbines in turbulent excitation), which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics over a period of three and a half years and coordinated by Nordex.

Original publications:

Carsten Schubert et al: “Introduction of the Virtual Center of Wind Pressure for correlating large-scale turbulent structures and wind turbine loads”, Wind Energy Science, doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-1267-2026

Daniela Moreno et al: “From the center of wind pressure to loads on the wind turbine: a stochastic approach for the reconstruction of load signals”, Wind Energy Science 10, 2729-2754, 2025, doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-2729-2025

Marcel Bock et al: “Comparison of different simulation methods regarding loads, considering the center of wind pressure”, Wind Energy Science, 11, 103-126, 2026, doi.org/10.5194/wes-11-103-2026

Original press release (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg): https://uol.de/pressemitteilungen/2026/038

Torsten Schlurmann elected to the board of the newly formed German Marine Research Alliance

forwindadmin — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:32:17 +0000

The German Marine Research Alliance (DAM) and the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM) have officially completed their merger. The new association will continue the activities of both organizations under the name German Marine Research Alliance.

ForWind board member Torsten Schlurmann, Managing Director of the Ludwig-Franzius-Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering (LuFI) at Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Coastal Research Center, was elected to the five-member board of the new DAM.

ForWind congratulates and looks forward to working with the combined marine research community – especially with regard to current and future research projects in the field of offshore wind energy.

Image copyright: DAM / Jörg Modrow

Prof. Dr. Jannika Mattes is a new ForWind member

forwindadmin — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 08:35:26 +0000

Jannika Mattes is a new ForWind member

At the February meeting of the ForWind Board of Directors, Prof. Dr. Jannika Mattes was accepted as a new member of ForWind. Mattes is Professor of Organization and Innovation at the Institute of Social Sciences at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.

Jannika Mattes studied European Economics at the Universities of Bamberg and Granada and received her doctorate from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in 2010. After working as a research assistant and postdoctoral researcher, she was a junior professor for the sociology of European societies. Research stays have taken her abroad, including to London and Sweden.

In her research, Mattes deals with innovation processes, organizational structures and transition processes, particularly in the field of renewable energies and wind energy. A particular focus is on the analysis of social dynamics in connection with the energy transition. Among other things, she examines how institutional framework conditions and social dynamics shape technological developments such as wind energy.

With Jannika Mattes, ForWind is expanding its social science expertise in the field of wind energy and energy research. This will further strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation between engineering, natural science and social science disciplines.

Website of Jannika Mattes (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg)

WindRamp II: Measurements have started

forwindadmin — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 08:31:48 +0000

Research project uses the latest laser-technology for improved forecasts of offshore wind

The expansion of offshore wind energy will be rapidly driven forward over the next few years. The German government’s expansion plans aim to increase the capacity of offshore wind energy to at least 30 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and to at least 70 GW by 2045. Accurate and reliable power forecasts for wind farms and wind farm clusters are required to integrate this additional capacity into the electricity system. These forecasts make it possible to predict short-term fluctuations of power output caused by strong variations in wind speed, known as wind ramps, and to react accordingly in order to ensure even further optimized utilization of the capacities of the wind farms and the electricity grid.

An important milestone in the WindRamp II research project was the start of the first measurement campaign at the Amrumbank West offshore wind farm. Three long-range scanning lidar systems were installed on selected wind turbines in spring 2025. In addition, meteorological sensors are being used to collect data on atmospheric stability and the vertical structure of the wind field (‘profile’ estimates). The aim of this measurement campaign is to obtain comprehensive information about the inflow of the wind farm, up to a distance of fifteen kilometers upstream. Amrumbank West is located around 35 kilometers northwest of Heligoland in the German Bight. With 80 wind turbines, it is one of the largest offshore wind farms in Germany, with a total installed capacity of around 302 megawatts. Since its commissioning in 2015, the RWE-operated wind farm generates enough energy to supply around 300,000 households with electricity. The geographical location and size of the park offer ideal conditions for validating the technologies used in the project.

Short-term changes in wind speed – so-called ramp events – can often not be predicted accurately enough using conventional methods. Therefore, a central aspect of the project is to use long-range scanning lidar devices to extend the forecasting horizon and to improve the quality of the forecasts. On this basis, observer-based wind power forecasts can be created. In combination with short-term lidar forecasts and simultaneous grid flexibilization, this can help to optimize the curtailment of offshore wind energy due to grid bottlenecks and minimize the need for balancing energy.

With the ‘WindRamp II’ project, ForWind Oldenburg is building on the successful work of the ‘WindRamp’ project completed in December 2023, in which an observer-based minute-scale forecast for wind speed and power was researched. The aim of the new project is to extend these forecasting methods to heterogeneous wind farm clusters with very large wind turbines and to develop new methods that improve forecast accuracy, the forecast horizon and reliability in unfavorable weather conditions.

The project is being coordinated by ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research at the Universities of Oldenburg, Hanover and Bremen. The joint partners include energy & meteo systems, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) – Institut für Vernetzte Energiesysteme and RWE. METEK, Abacus Laser and Tennet are involved as associated partners. The project is receiving financial funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWE).

The sub-project of ForWind Oldenburg aims to extend the observer-based forecast to heterogeneous wind farm clusters with very large wind turbines and to develop new methods for increased forecast accuracy and an extended forecast horizon. The aim of the Wind Energy Systems research group at the University of Oldenburg is to use the improved power forecasts to develop more reliable system integration of wind energy with less need for balancing energy and warnings in the event of expected ramp events. The novel technologies of ‘XXL’ long-range scanning lidar devices with improved range and higher resolution developed in the WindRamp project by Abacus Laser and METEK will be used for this purpose.

As part of WindRamp II, project partner RWE will test such a new type of XXL-lidar prototype that will be able to capture the wind field over a distance of up to 25 kilometers. This innovative device has now been delivered. It will now undergo an onshore test phase in northern Germany. Next year, the XXL lidar will be tested in an offshore wind farm cluster off Heligoland as part of the ongoing project to evaluate and optimise the practicality and effectiveness of the technology in real offshore conditions.

The DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems, which is also involved in the project, uses lidar minute-scale forecasts to optimize the integration of fluctuating offshore wind energy into the electricity system. What is new is that the expected skill of the lidar forecast is taken into account in order to increase the reliable scheduling of wind power and that of other power plants with the overarching goal to reduce system integration costs.

energy & meteo systems will use wind data from lidar measurements and current generation data from several offshore wind farms to improve short-term power forecasts. Combining these data sources will not only further increase the accuracy of forecasts but also enable the development of effective and timely early warnings of ramping events for electricity traders and grid operators.

The project term ends in May 2027 and the results will not only be made available in scientific publications but will also find concrete application in practice. Particularly noteworthy here is the collaboration with the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, which is still under construction. Parallel to WindRamp II, OranjeWind is supporting the demonstration of a real-time system for short-term power forecasting at the Amrumbank-West wind farm. The experience gained from both projects will then be incorporated into a power forecasting pilot project at the OranjeWind offshore wind farm once it is operational.

Team of scientists during the offshore lidar installation. Image rights: ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research

XXL-Scanning Lidar at the start of onshore testing. Image rights: ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research

Scanning Lidar devices in the Amrumbank West offshore wind farm. Image rights: ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research

ForWind expertise in the “Knowledge creates energy” lecture series in Hanover

forwindadmin — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:01:54 +0000

On November 12, 2025, another contribution to the lecture series “Knowledge creates energy – energy research for the city of tomorrow” took place at Leibniz Universität Hannover. The series in the Science Year Future Energy is organized in cooperation with the Volkshochschule Hannover.

The lecture “Smart grids – keeping the energy supply stable” highlighted the key technical challenges of the energy transition. It was presented by two ForWind scientists:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Lutz Hofmann, Institute for Electrical Energy Systems, and
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Mertens, Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics.

The focus was on the question of how an electricity system increasingly dominated by wind and photovoltaic generation can be operated in a stable manner. Hofmann and Mertens explained how power-electronically connected generation plants, modern control and regulation technology and digital IT infrastructures can be networked to create an intelligent, flexible smart grid. Based on current research work, they showed what requirements are placed on the modeling, simulation and grid integration of decentralized systems – and what technical solutions are being tested today.

The event made it clear how important systems engineering research is for the secure operation of a renewable, digitalized energy system and what contributions LUH and ForWind are making to this.