CORE

Project summary

The transition towards large-scale offshore wind deployment in Europe brings new challenges related to climate change, wind farm interactions, and asset lifetime management. The CORE project develops advanced modelling, forecasting, and optimisation methodologies to improve the performance and resilience of both existing and future offshore wind farms.

By combining expertise in wind farm control, atmospheric modelling, condition monitoring, and energy optimisation, CORE aims to support more efficient offshore wind farm design and operation, with a particular focus on the Belgian North Sea and the future Princess Elisabeth Zone.

The project contributes to maintaining Europe’s leadership in offshore renewable energy while addressing key technical challenges faced by the sector.

Objectives

The CORE project develops innovative methods and tools to optimise offshore wind farm performance under changing environmental and operational conditions. The project focuses on:

• Developing advanced modelling methodologies for offshore wind farm behaviour;

• Creating forecasting tools that account for changing climate conditions;

• Optimising wind farm layout and operational strategies;

• Increasing annual energy production (AEP) while extending asset lifetime;

• Assessing the impact of wake effects between neighbouring wind farms;

• Investigating wind turbulence caused by offshore infrastructure such as the Princess Elisabeth Island;

• Improving understanding of wind–sea interactions in the atmospheric layer above the North Sea.

The project also aims to significantly reduce computational effort by accelerating simulation and condition monitoring methods. Target improvements include reducing calculation times by a factor of three for Large Eddy Simulation models and by a factor of twenty for condition monitoring approaches.

Pilot cases

The methodologies developed within CORE will be validated through five pilot cases, including:

• Optimisation of wind farm layouts in the Princess Elisabeth Zone;

• Support for repowering existing offshore wind farms;

• Development of advanced control strategies considering wake effects;

• Integration of environmental constraints such as Natura 2000 requirements;

• Analysis of offshore atmospheric and turbulence effects.

These pilot cases ensure that the project outcomes can be directly translated into industrial applications and future offshore wind developments.

Impact

CORE contributes to the next generation of offshore wind farms by enabling smarter design and operation strategies that increase energy yield while reducing operational risks and costs.

The project supports the continued growth of offshore renewable energy in Belgium and Europe and aligns with the broader ambition of creating a resilient, sustainable, and competitive blue economy.