Conclusion

Wind power is a major opportunity for clean energy generation, and therefore a major business opportunity.

A 2024 Capgemini Research Institute study, reported on in A world in balance 2024, found that 71% of energy and utilities executives believe renewable energy (including wind) will significantly reduce GHG emissions in their sectors in the next 2–3 years.

But wind must operate more reliably and efficiently in order to truly deliver on this promise. Moving to a new model of distributed intelligence for wind farms means mastering Edge AI. Beyond individual turbine improvements, Edge AI opens to a whole new paradigm, unleashing the real ‘intelligence of things’ where assets are autonomous, self-optimized, interconnected, and constantly evolving.

Creating smart ecosystems will hopefully support renewables’ profitability and growth, and help the energy transition. With this major technological breakthrough will come new opportunities, new value propositions, and new business models.

References

1 - Unlocking the potential: A review of artificial intelligence applications in wind energy: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/exsy.13716

2 - Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Grid Connected Wind Turbine Control Systems: A Comprehensive Review:
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/3/1530

3 - Collective wind farm operation based on a predictive model increases utility-scale energy production: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2202.06683

4 - Scaling wind power innovation assessment for rapid energy transition with artificial intelligence: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/84403.pdf

5 - Artificial intelligence-aided wind plant optimization for nationwide evaluation of land use and economic benefits of wake steering: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01516-8

6 - Siemens Gamesa now able to actively dictate wind flow at offshore wind locations: https://www.siemensgamesa.com/global/en/home/press-releases/191126-siemens-gamesa-wake-adapt-en.html

7 - How WindESCo Improves AEP 3-5%: https://www.windesco.com/blog/swarm-apps

8 - Something big is coming May 19.
Is your wind farm ready?: https://info.gepower.com/digitalwindfarmwebinars.html

9 - The Global Voice Of The Wind Industry: https://www.gwec.net/

10 - Wind has significant potential to increase countries' renewable capacity growth: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/renewables/wind#

11 - Siemens Gamesa with focus on digital solutions for the wind industry at WindEurope 2019 in Bilbao: https://www.siemensgamesa.com/global/en/home/press-releases/190401-siemens-gamesa-at-windeurope-2019-in-bilbao.html

Author

Rémi DACHICOURT
Global Head of Renewable Energy
Capgemini Engineering

remi.dachicourt@capgemini.com