Wind Energy

The location of the farms in less dense populated areas in Norway has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, the operation of the parks is not disturbing for people. On the other hand, some impact on the fragile arctic nature cannot be excluded and has to be estimated carefully. Often, a visual impact is present, but this is a very individual impression.

Norway has further an interesting potential for Offshore wind energy. Wind turbines might be located in shallow waters with very different soil conditions or floating in deep-water environment. Especially the latter is a challenging R&D field.

The long-term potential for wind energy in Norway is very high; some tens of TWh might be installed. At present, wind power gives by far the cheapest electricity of the new, renewable energy sources.

Considering that wind farm investments required to reach the 3 TWh goal of the Norwegian energy policy constitute an investment in the range of 8 billion NOK, it is very relevant to support related industrial development.

A successful development of wind energy industry in Norway requires national competence in the industry and in the research sector. IFE’s vision is to contribute to effective exploitation of the Norwegian wind resources in cooperation with developers and to support the Norwegian wind energy industry in strategic R&D activities.

IFE’s research activities on wind energy are focused on:

• Aerodynamic and structural optimization of wind turbines
• Offshore wind energy
• Wind turbine load analysis
• Simulation of wind in complex terrain
• Wind park planning in collaboration with Kjeller Vindteknikk AS
• Testing of wind turbines in cooperation with VIVA AS
• Wind energy consulting