N E W S

"ICE CONTROL" - when rotor blades ice up

04.07.2016

Icing on wind turbines can cause significant reduction of available wind power in winter, amidst favourable wind conditions.

To operate wind turbines efficiently during the cold season, energy producers rely on accurate forecasts of icing conditions. In the recently funded project "ICE CONTROL", meteorologists at our department led by Manfred Dorninger aim to advance methods to improve the quality of meteorological icing forecasts. The project is funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund and will last from April 2016 to March 2019. Collaborating institutions are the Austrian National Weather Service (ZAMG, project leader), VERBUND Hydro Power GmbH and the Swiss company Meteotest.

Picture of a rotor blade and surrounding wind turbines in VERBUND windpark Ellern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (Copyright VERBUND (Fink))