Global Wind Day 2022
Celebrating some of PNNL’s “Wizards of Wind Energy”
Global Wind Day is June 15, 2022.
(Image by Timothy Holland | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Global Wind Day is June 15, and this year we celebrate on a “Winds-day.”
The wind energy experts at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are making magic happen in several areas, including wind-grid integration, offshore and land-based wind, distributed wind, wind model validation, wind and wildlife interaction, and so much more.
Learn more about some of PNNL’s “Wizards of Wind Energy” and how they are helping to make advances in bringing this clean, renewable energy source to the nation.
Alice Orrell
Mechanical engineer and manager of PNNL’s Distributed Wind program
Wizard name: Wizardess Diviner of Distributed Wind
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
I am the lead author of the annual Distributed Wind Market Report produced for WETO. The Market Report serves as the primary information source for the U.S. distributed wind market. By providing a comprehensive overview of the distributed wind market, the report helps guide future investments and decisions by industry, utilities, federal and state agencies, and other interested stakeholders. The report provides key information to help stakeholders understand and access market opportunities and inform distributed wind industry research and development needs.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
I can identify most small wind turbine manufacturer models by sight and I know where many of them are installed in the United States because of PNNL’s research. On vacation in Maui with my family, we took a side trip to the Landfill Refuse and Recycling Center so I could see the three Bergey Excel 10 wind turbines there. My son asked incredulously, “How did you even know these turbines were here?”
What’s your favorite wind energy fun fact?
As the sun heats the Earth’s surface over time, dynamic temperature and pressure gradients are created in the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Air molecules move from high temperatures to low temperatures and high pressure to low pressure within these gradients, creating wind. So wind energy can be considered a form of solar energy!
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
The wind energy industry has a job for everyone. Project development companies need wind resource assessment analysts, but also human resources staff, attorneys, and accountants. Turbine manufacturers need engineers and designers, but also sales and marketing teams. My advice is to find the right home for you within a company, because every role contributes to creating more greener, cleaner wind energy.
Bharat Vyakaranam
Electrical Engineer
Wizard name: Wizard of Wind Integration
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
One of the projects I’m contributing to is the newer Atlantic Offshore Wind Integration Study, mainly focusing on reliability and resilience once the wind is in the system, especially in the case of severe contingencies like weather. The target is to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind into the eastern interconnection by 2030 and 110 gigawatts by 2050 nationally. Our team’s job is to evaluate whether the system can handle those gigawatts of wind energy and identify any needed reinforcements. We work closely with independent system operators and technical review committees, so there is a lot of industry engagement.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
Integration and reliability. There are several challenges related to integrating offshore wind into the grid, and I’m helping to develop solutions to these challenges and make the system reliable.
What’s your favorite wind energy fun fact?
Turbine hub-height winds on land are often strongest at night, nevertheless on the ocean, they are steady during all times of the day and can vary depending on the location offshore.
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
There is a lot more research to be done for wind energy, especially with offshore wind integration. Many people think wind is free and we can easily integrate it, but making the system reliable once it’s integrated and able to handle severe weather events is a big challenge. These are challenges that someone entering the wind industry can focus on and develop solutions.
Daniel Deng
Mechanical Engineer
Wizard name: Wizard of Wind and Wildlife
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
My team’s research focuses on developing radio telemetry systems and three-dimensional localization algorithms to remotely and accurately track birds and bats within wind farms and around wind turbines. This helps us understand and mitigate the potential environmental effects of wind energy.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
I am not sure if it is due to my “magical power,” but I feel so lucky to be a part of the wind energy community because I am passionate about renewable energy and environmental protection.
What’s your favorite wind energy fun fact?
Almost 17 GW land-based wind energy was installed in 2020 alone.
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
With land-based wind continuously growing and offshore wind being accelerated, there will be a lot of more opportunities in the wind energy field.
Lindsay Sheridan
Earth Scientist
Wizard name: The Wind Resourceress
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
I support the offshore, land-based, and distributed wind communities by validating the wind models and generation simulation tools essential to site assessment, identifying sources of errors and providing guidelines to set appropriate production expectations. Additionally, I perform wind resource assessments for a variety of folks interested in adding wind to their energy portfolio, from isolated island communities to military bases.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
At PNNL, I’m called the Wind Resourceress, and I help communities understand their wind resource potential and whether wind energy is a good fit for their energy goals.
What's your favorite wind energy fun fact?
Cows love wind energy! On hot days, they gather in the shadows created by wind turbine towers to keep cool.
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
Get involved with the Collegiate Wind Competition, a DOE-sponsored event where students gain experience and connections to help them launch into the wind industry.
Mark Severy
Earth Scientist
Wizard name: The SEER of Offshore Wind
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
I work on several projects that help advance the responsible development of offshore wind energy in the U.S. I lead DOE’s Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research—or SEER—project that is summarizing the current state of knowledge about environmental effects of offshore wind energy by leveraging research done at early offshore wind farms in Europe and translating the results to a U.S. context. I also develop technology that helps monitor and mitigate the interactions between offshore wind farms and wildlife. Lastly, I support the deployment of DOE’s lidar buoys to measure atmospheric and ocean conditions that helps improve siting and design for offshore wind farms.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
My magical power is deploying scientific instruments that can measure environmental processes invisible to a human observer. Do you want to measure the wind speed 250 yards above the ocean? Do you want to identify what type of bird is flying one mile away in the middle of the night? Engineers and scientists at PNNL use equipment that can automate these types of measurements.
What’s your favorite wind energy fun fact?
Offshore wind turbines are very tall. The center of an offshore wind turbine – or hub height – can be as high as 450 feet above sea level with blades as long as a football field on some of the newest models. This allows the turbines to capture the fastest wind speeds that typically occur higher above the water.
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
There are fantastic job opportunities in many disciplines around wind energy development. Whether your background is in construction, manufacturing, engineering, social sciences, ecology, etc. there is a place for you in this growing industry. My best advice is to learn everything you can about all aspects of wind energy development, find out what interests you the most, then network with people doing similar work.
Nader Samaan
Electrical Engineer
Wizard name: The Sorcerer of Simulation
What research do you do to support DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office?
My main work involves helping grid operators understand and handle the variability and uncertainty of wind power. I model wind power plants with different grid planning tools—so really anything related to wind as a wind power plant. I am co-author of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal papers on wind capacity value and wind power plant short circuit contributions with more than 600 citations.
What is your magical power when it comes to wind energy?
For me, it’s the ability to look at the wind farm or project as you look at any conventional power plant like nuclear or hydro. Wind energy has the ability to provide services to the grid just like conventional plants, such as frequency response and balancing reserves. Wind turbines have state-of-the-art generators that can provide voltage support to the grid even if the wind is not blowing.
What’s your favorite wind energy fun fact?
This was a personal experience. Before joining PNNL, I was working with a consulting firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. I had been doing integration interconnect studies for one of the first wind projects in the Pacific Northwest, the Wild Horse Wind Project. When I moved to PNNL and the northwest, I was driving down I-90. I could see the wind farm and realized I did work for that. What’s interesting is that I did the simulation for the project but seeing the wind farm with my own eyes was a totally different experience.
What advice do you have for someone entering the wind energy field?
Wind energy has many pieces. It’s not just power engineering. It has mechanical engineering, meteorological science, environmental science, and ocean science. This combination helps minimize the impact on the environment and understand how to mitigate the uncertainty and variability associated with wind to maintain grid reliability. There are many options for career paths for anyone interested in a wind energy career.