– Developers are faced with the challenge of speeding up simulations for new projects, while simultaneously integrating more advanced data into early stage technical and financial modelling
– Youwind launches a number of upgrades to its web-based tools, bringing the latest in yield assessment, GIS data and platform capabilities to the early development phases
Barcelona, 18th March 2024 — As European offshore wind projects continue to grow in scale and complexity, developers need more processing power to accelerate the early phases of new projects, while integrating more advanced data into their technical and financial modelling. To meet the evolving needs of the market, Youwind Renewables (Youwind), a leading provider of web-based solutions for optimising early-stage offshore wind development, has announced the launch of several upgrades to its modelling tools.
The size of Europe’s offshore wind projects is rapidly increasing, with the largest wind farms in development now exceeding 3.5GW. Simultaneously, development zones are becoming more congested, adding complexity to siting and layout decisions, which must account for the impact of neighbouring wind farms and their wake effects – beyond the project being studied itself.
Undertaking robust technical and financial modelling for these projects represents a growing challenge for development teams, with over 100 detailed simulations run on average for a typical offshore wind project, according to Youwind. This process can take several days using traditional development tools, requiring the alignment of numerous different software outputs between teams.
As developers seek to pick up the pace, Youwind’s web-based tools bring much-needed processing power to the market, allowing developers to run comprehensive, bankable simulations for wind farms as large as 1.2GW in under one minute, and for giant, multi-phase 3.5GW+ projects in just a few minutes – around 8-10 times faster than other solutions available.
To further enhance these rapid simulation capabilities, Youwind has introduced a number of key upgrades to its tools. These are designed to help developers manage growing complexity and mitigate financial risks by bringing more advanced, high-quality data and modelling approaches into their early-stage projections.
To support accurate yield assessment and layout optimisation in increasingly congested development zones, Youwind’s modelling tools now enable developers to:
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- Upload and process their high resolution hourly Time Series data from any provider, for a much more granular understanding of expected yield performance based on the local wind resource. Thanks to integration with leading resource data provider, Vortex, Vortex Time Series or WRG files can be uploaded directly.
- Undertake air density correction – a key factor impacting project yields that is not commonly accounted for in the early development stages
- Choose between multiple power curves for a turbine model to account for site air density effects.
- Visualise and understand the impact of exclusion zones, and work across multiple development areas.
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Furthermore, Youwind has enhanced the array of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data delivered through its platform. Developers are now able to:
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- Access crucial spatial data, including substrate characteristics for precise foundation placement, and bathymetry slope data for accurate cable length calculations
- More easily assess foundation technology suitability.
- Gain a full overview of their project portfolio, supporting high-level analysis with non-technical users.
- See a more detailed breakdown of DEVEX, CAPEX and OPEX for increased transparency of key project costs.
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“We are thrilled to announce these significant upgrades to our platform,” said Anna Rivera, CEO of Youwind Renewables. “As the offshore wind industry increases in scale and complexity, anticipating the evolving needs of the market is key to streamline project development processes, minimize risks, and maximize project yields and revenues. Our tools give users the processing power to drastically speed up the early-development phases, while handling the latest, most accurate data to ensure maximum profitability”.
Anna Rivera will be speaking on the topic of “Collaboration for digital transformation” at WindEurope in Bilbao – Wednesday 20th March, 15.15pm. The Youwind team is available for meetings at stand no. 1-A110.
About Youwind:
Youwind is the web-based solution for accelerating offshore wind development.
Founded in 2019 by industry engineers with over 15 years’ experience in offshore wind development, Youwind’s innovative technology streamlines and optimises the initial phases of offshore wind project development, reducing early-stage development timelines by 80%.By leveraging a highly accurate, but flexible database, critical decision making in project development, including design, can be made in seconds. Partnering with some of the most respected research institutions, such as TU Delft and DTU, Youwind continues to innovate to address current and future offshore wind development challenges, ensuring a consistently evolving solution for project modelling, optimization and yield performance.
