Wind Energy

This professorship aims to make an important contribution to the successful development of wind energy. In doing so, it focuses in particular on important preconditions such as reducing costs/kWh even further and increasing social acceptance of wind energy.

An important starting point for the Wind Energy professorship is the view that dependence on non-renewable energy sources (e.g. fossil or nuclear) is one of the biggest global problems. This is partly due to the environmental and climate impact of non-renewable sources. But conventional energy sources are also finite and often come from politically unstable regions. It is therefore accompanied by continuous uncertainty in terms of supply and price levels.

Promising option

To cope with these problems, there is an increasing focus on renewable energy. Although we assume that future renewable energy supply will consist of a mix of sources, wind energy is among the most promising options. This is partly due to the relatively low cost and high potential of this energy source. Important preconditions for the successful development of wind energy are an even further reduction in costs/kWh and increasing social acceptance.

Off-shore wind energy

This professorship, with professor Gerard Schepers, aims to contribute to fulfilling these preconditions, focusing on technological solutions first. Given that there are many technological possibilities for even further cost reductions in off-shore wind energy and that social acceptance of off-shore wind energy is considerably less of a problem, it is obvious to focus on off-shore wind energy.