The POLI-Wind Laboratory conducts research in the area of wind energy, mainly in two focus areas: development of technologies for multidisciplinary design of on-shore and off-shore wind turbines and in the Airborne Wind Energy System (AWES).
In the first focus area, work is done looking at the various aspects involved in the holistic design of these complex machines: aerodynamics, structures, materials, control, aeroelasticity, hydrodynamics, and costs from a numerical (code development) and experimental (wind tunnel test) point of view.
In the latter area, the Lab started working to develop technologies for the conceptual design and flight mechanics (stability and dynamics) of AWEs systems.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES

• In the area of wind turbine and wind farm design (in which we have been working for 20 years), he Lab keeps working to develop technologies with the goal of reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) for off-shore and on-shore wind turbine and of supporting the Industry (also SME developing small wind turbines). This is done by integrating different levels of modeling in order to be able to consider, from the early stages of the project, different engineering issues (aerodynamics, structure, control, floating systems for off-shore application, wake interference between the wind turbines in a wind farm, etc.). Mainly, modeling systems (such as the aero-servo-hydro-elastic code Cp-Lambda) are developed in house, or public domain tools are used. In parallel wind tunnel testing can support the research activities.
• In the more recent area of AWES design, the Lab imports the modeling and design expertise developed in recent years in the traditional wind energy sector of the previous area. These skills are then further expanded by the flight mechanics expertise of the Lab's faculty members. A synergy that enables the study of the conceptual design of these innovative high-altitude power generation systems.
• All these research activities are fully in line with the mission-oriented policy of Horizon Europe on climate change, and, in particular with SDG 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all).
• Most of the research activities are/have been conducted within EU projects and/or throughout Industrial projects.

FUTURE PLANS

• In the area of AWES design, one recent EU funded project, MERIDIONAL, supports the research activities. The Lab is actively pursuing opportunities for the demonstration in the field and further maturation of its wind observers and stability analysis tools.
• In the area of traditional on-shore and off-shore wind turbines, the lab is continuously working in order to reduce the LCoE for offshore wind turbine through the continuous development and integration of subsystem models (FLOAWER EU project).
• We continue working toward designing the next-generation rotor blades with recycled and recyclable materials.
• We continue working to support companies with the goal of making energy increasingly renewable and a World increasingly sustainable!

ERC KEYWORDS

• PE8-6 Energy system (production, distribution, application)
• PE8-4 Computational engineering
• PE7-1 Control Engineering
• PE8-1 Aerospace Engineering

FREE KEYWORDS

• Wind energy