KRUMMENDEICH, Germany - A new measurement method debuts in the skies: In the NearWake project, a swarm of ten drones from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has carried out measurements where stationary instruments cannot reach – directly in front of and behind the OPUS 1 and OPUS 2 wind turbines at the DLR WiValdi (Wind Validation) wind energy research farm in Krummendeich, the German Aerospace Center reports. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
10 July 2025 - “The wake is an important and fascinating subject of research. Wind turbines are not usually stand-alone structures, but grouped together in wind farms. This means that the wake from one turbine impacts those behind it, which can significantly influence their performance and the loads acting on rotor blades and turbine systems,” explains Norman Wildmann who oversees the NearWake project at the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Oberpfaffenhofen. “This is why the scientific investigation of wake effects is one of the core tasks of DLR’s research wind farm. At the same time, the topic is highly relevant for both the onshore and offshore wind industry.”
Because windmills are 600 feet tall. Airplanes fly at 20,000 or 30,000 feet or more. Probably not gonna be an issue between those two technologies.
There will be a bit of commonality, of course, but siting of windmills has become more of an art in the past decades than simply lining them up all in a row.
Wake turbulence is not likely to be problem at 20,000 or 30,000 feet but more likely when planes are taking off. It’s one of the reasons the radio calls include the word “heavy” meaning big plane, big wake, big danger specially for small birds.