RES and National Renewable Energy Laboratory collaborate on innovative digital technology to drive wind turbine efficiency

• RES brings innovative NREL wind technology to market
• Collaboration leverages NREL’s research and development capabilities to further advance RES’ renewable expertise and digital services for the wind industry
• Innovative ‘Dynamic Yaw’ technology models systems thinking to drive greater efficiencies for wind farms

3 September, Denver, USA – RES, the world’s largest independent renewables company, and the U.S.
Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), have partnered to license and
deploy an innovative technology to optimise the performance of wind turbines.

The ‘Dynamic Yaw’ technology effectively innovates the yaw system of wind turbines – the component
responsible for the orientation of a turbine toward the wind – to maximise the overall performance
and efficiency of turbines in a wind farm.

While traditionally, a single wind turbine is designed to work in isolation and self-orient in a manner
that optimises its own performance, the ‘Dynamic Yaw’ technology takes a systems approach to
consider how each individual wind turbine on a wind farm can share data and work together as a team
to increase the overall performance of the group of turbines. This systems approach has the effect of
improving overall energy efficiency by adding the equivalent of 1-3 wind turbines to a 100 turbine-strong wind farm through enhanced management and controls.

“The renewables industry is on the cusp of widespread digitalisation”, said Alex Bamberger, VP Digital
Solutions at RES. “The ‘Dynamic Yaw’ technology will help wind asset owners optimise the overall
output of their assets through better utilisation of their data, and subsequent autonomous action of
the asset. By sharing farm wide data and transforming the yaw optimization strategy of a wind farm to
maximise overall performance, the ‘Dynamic Yaw’ transforms a collection of individual turbines into a
team.

Bamberger said that “licensing NREL’s technology is a good example of the way RES is able to combine
its deep renewables expertise and understanding of how assets work, with the technology of leading
research institutions. Merging these two capabilities is enabling RES to use modern digital
infrastructure to manage data and turn insight into action. This technology isn’t a science project any
more, it’s real and able to help customers reach net zero much faster.”

NREL Senior Engineer for Wind Energy Control Systems, Paul Fleming sees that “this technology
demonstrates the ability of coordinated wind farm control to deliver improved performance and
energy yield.”

Developed, installed and maintained by RES, and incorporating IP licensed from NREL, Dynamic Yaw
has been trial tested by RES for over seven years across turbines at wind farms in the UK. The
technology the NREL and RES collaboration unlocks will initially target customers in the Americas, but
the technology can be installed anywhere in the world, bridging the gap between digital data and
action on site.

As well as driving the energy efficiency of wind farms, the technology will improve supply chain
efficiencies by enabling production of more renewable energy from the same investment. This will
allow more efficient capital allocation – to extract all available renewable energy from our existing
assets.

The collaboration with NREL is part of RES’ strategy to improve the efficiency of the renewables sector,
through partnerships and collaboration with stakeholders across industry and government. RES’
existing digital products include AnemoLive, AeroUp and Optivert, all targeted at improving efficiency
for renewable asset owners.

ENDS                                                                                            

About RES

RES is the world’s largest independent renewable energy company, working across 24 countries and
active in wind, solar, energy storage, biomass, hydro, green hydrogen, transmission, and
distribution. An industry innovator for over 40 years, RES has delivered more than 26 GW of renewable
energy projects across the globe and plans to bring more than 22 GW of new capacity online in the
next five years.

As a service provider, RES has the skills and experience in asset management, operations and
maintenance (O&M), and spare parts – supporting 41GW of renewable assets across 1,300 sites. RES
brings to the market a range of purposeful, practical technology-based products and digital solutions
designed to maximize investment and deployment of renewable energy.

RES is the power behind a clean energy future where everyone has access to affordable zero carbon
energy bringing together global experience, passion, and the innovation of its 4,500 people to
transform the way energy is generated, stored and supplied. Visit: www.res-group.com

Media contacts

RES
Rachel Anderson
[email protected]

FTI Consulting
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