Centre for Renewable Energy Sources, CRES

Contact

CRES (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources)
19th km. Marathonos Ave.
19009 PIKERMI ATTIKIS GREECE

phone: +30210 6603300
fax: +30210 6603301/302
e-mail: tchaviar@cres.gr
web: www.cres.gr

CRES was founded in 1987 and since 1994 is the Greek national coordination centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Saving. CRES is supervised by the Ministry of Development, enjoying, however, financial and administrative independence. The Wind Energy Department of CRES has accumulated a notable experience through its participation in numerous wind energy related national and international projects, covering all aspects of wind energy, including wind energy potential assessment, wind turbine and wind turbine components design, testing and assessment, wind powered desalination and integration in autonomous power systems.
CRES in cooperation with other authorities is developing the National Wind Turbine Certification System, participates in relevant activities in the European and International level (CENELEC, IEC) and is a founding member of the MEASNET network. Moreover, within the Wind Energy Department the Laboratory for Wind Turbine Testing provides high quality measurement services, accredited according to ISO 17025, covering the whole aspects of wind turbine systems and their components, as well as wind potential measurements and analysis.


Research groups involved

The wind energy department of CRES has a scientific staff of 20 highly experienced and specialized scientists, engineers and technicians. Their activities can be divided in following major research groups:

The technical support group, which is responsible for equipment issues (purchase, maintenance, calibration), design and development of measuring systems, preparation, testing and installation of complete measuring systems for testing purposes. The group of the laboratory for wind turbine testing, which is responsible for execution of tests within the services provided by the wind energy department of CRES.
The quality assurance group, which is responsible for the execution of projects under the quality specification required by the accreditation scope of the laboratory for wind turbine testing.
The numerical tools development group, which is responsible for the implementation of the theoretical findings in the design and analysis software used for wind energy applications.
The standardization and certification group, which deals with the relevant issues as part of the national development of standardization code, as well as the harmonization of the different wind turbine certification systems used in the EU.


Facilities & Advanced Research Tools

Laboratory for wind turbine testing Services include Wind Turbine Power curve & Power quality measurements, Load & Noise measurements, Wind Resource Assessment
W/T Blade testing Laboratory Full scale modal, multi-axial static and fatigue testing of wind turbine blades up to 20m with suitable servohydraulic equipment.
NDT for Wind Turbine Blades Non Destructive Testing of composite materials including Acoustic Emission and Ultrasonic applications and blade geometry quality control
Mechanical Testing of materials Static and fatigue experiments of blade materials and components with a servohydraulic MTS 250kN testing machine
Wind Tunnel Anemometer calibration in the wind speed range 4m/s to 16m/s with calibration uncertainty better than 0.5% in a measuring section of 0.8x0.8m2
Test site & Demonstration wind farm Complex terrain test site for R&D and certification of Wind Turbine systems. Demonstration wind farm comprising 5 medium sized wind turbines
Hybrid Wind-Diesel Laboratory System Simulation of small autonomous grid operation. System is equipped with a 45kW diesel generator, a 30kW wind turbine simulator, control and monitoring systems.
Measuring equipment Hardware and software for measuring mechanical loads and vibrations, noise, power quality and wind characteristics. Mobile equipment for data acquisition and communication
Software In-house developed software ranging from CFD modelling to remote monitoring and control of wind turbine operation
Accreditation Laboratory for wind turbine testing and W/T blade testing facility accredited according to ISO 17025. MEASNET member

R&D Strategy

TERM
shortmediumlong
Characterization of the main features of complex or mountainous sites, affecting both the power performance and the loading of different types of wind turbines operating at such environments
Development of wind turbines for installation in hostile environments of limited infrastructure
Improvement of damping characteristics and thereof aerodynamic stability of wind turbine blades
Development of new techniques for power quality measurement and assessment
Contributing know-how to Wind Turbine standardization procedures
Developing blade-testing techniques including non destructive testing
Understanding generic aeroelastic performance of WT blades through CFD techniques
Developing cost-effective micro-siting techniques for complex terrain topographies
Developing new techniques for wind speed and direction measurements
Improving characterization of composite material 3D fatigue life and residual strength through experiments for enhancing reliability of wind turbine blades

Education and training activities

The Wind Energy department of CRES in support of academic research has created strong links with universities on a national basis. CRES researchers are taking part in consulting committees during PhD preparations with subjects relative to wind energy. Moreover professional training is taking place in the laboratory for wind turbine testing for students of National Technological Institutes. On a European level CRES supports programs like SOKRATES/ERASMUS, while CRES researchers are invited speakers for courses such as EUREC master course program.
CRES also provides its testing facilities for academic research in support of PhD or master thesis preparations, as well as for hands-on trainings during master courses on subjects relevant to wind turbine and wind turbine component design, testing and construction. In general CRES is very supportive of educational activities covering the needs from the elementary school, allowing for example educational visits to its premises, to the higher academic level, amongst others offering a 3-year scholarship on PhD candidates with relevant subjects.