At the moment, Senior Researcher Tuhfe Göçmen is working with data on bats. She is developing algorithms for controlling entire wind farms, and now it's all about taking the flying mammals into account.
The bat data comes from France which has many bats and its wind turbines are equipped with sensors that register the animals' movements.
"Bats only fly in dry weather, and they typically come out on summer nights. But it can be dangerous for them to fly around between the turbines, as they risk being hit by the blades," says Tuhfe Göçmen.
The 36-year-old researcher from DTU Wind always speaks very quickly, but now the words come even faster when the topic is bats, which she has been preoccupied with for years. She even has a tattoo of a bat, she says.
"To think that I've had the opportunity to combine my research in wind turbines with my favourite animal."
Smart wind turbine
But Tuhfe Göçmen's work with the bats is not for fun. It is about optimizing the operation of wind turbines, and one of the first steps is to map the turbines' interaction with their surroundings such as animals, but also wind and weather, and the people who live near the turbines. Huge amounts of data combined with AI enable researchers to create a new generation of wind turbines that can detect the surroundings and adapt to them.
"My dream scenario is that wind turbines one day become completely self-regulating, just like robots. We will have wind turbines that autonomously adapt their operation without human involvement. They will be smart wind turbines that slow down a bit for a period of time to allow birds and bats time to forage. Or when it rains and the power demand is low, the turbine can also stop spinning and protect the blades from the water, delaying material corrosion and extending the lifetime of the turbine by 10-15 years. Or if the wind direction causes annoying noise for the neighbours, the turbines can also brake themselves. These are wind turbines that know they are part of a society they must adapt to," says Tuhfe Göçmen.
Succeeding with the vision requires enormous amounts of data and the development of algorithms so the systems can become self-learning using AI. Fortunately, these two elements make up some of Tuhfe Göçmen's absolute favourite pastimes.
"I love data, and I love coding. A good working day for me always includes a little coding. It is through data and artificial intelligence that we can optimize wind turbine operation," says Tuhfe Göçmen.
She estimates that it will take another three to four years to develop the algorithms that can ensure optimization, and only then will they be ready to field test the digital solutions.
"Hopefully, around 2035, we will have wind turbines that are as autonomous as robots," Tuhfe Göçmen estimates.
