Institution news
Ruth discusses her role and involvement with regards to conference topic, industry challenges and developments, what he is looking forward to at the event and why it is important for engineers to attend.
Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience with regards to wind turbines
Ruth Augarde (RA): I am a Senior Engineer at Frazer-Nash Consultancy. Throughout my time at Frazer-Nash I have worked on a range of projects across the Energy industry. My team focuses on combining our mechanical engineering expertise with novel data science and software methods.
In May I will be presenting a case study where we used Bayesian methods to investigate the composites design space for next-generation offshore wind.
Q: What, in your experience, has been the biggest roadblock for utilising technology in your sector?
RA: My work in probabilistics has shown me that uncertainty is a key driver behind roadblocks for innovation. Novel technologies carry inherent risks, and this can be a huge blocker for funding and developing research beyond the concept stage. It’s difficult to give investors certainty on performance and returns at the time when their investment is needed, at the early design stages.
Q: What key topics are you excited to speak about at Wind Turbine User Group 2023?
RA: I’d like to hear about other applications of data and probabilistic methods, particularly where solutions have been successfully applied to working wind farms. I want to understand how uncertainty is treated in the industry, from start-of-life to operation to decommissioning. I’m really looking forward to hearing a wide range of perspectives from across the industry, to deepen the context around my experience of the wind Industry so far.
Q: Regarding the utilisation of technology, what would you say are the technologies or applications to watch for the future?
RA: There’s a lot of buzz around digital and data-centric techniques – and rightly so! Across all industries we are seeing a marked change in how we utilise the huge amounts of data collected by operating assets. I think a key challenge is incorporating novel techniques into the engineering that already exists, to provide practical solutions with meaning to OEMs and operators.
Q: Why is it important for engineers to join this conference?
RA: It’s a really broad programme bringing in a range of experts and disciplines. Coming together to share our work gives us all the wider context of the whole industry and the full wind turbine lifecycle. It’s an opportunity to identify possible future collaborations and broaden all of our engineering networks.
Wind Turbine User Group 2023 will be taking place on 17-18 May at One Birdcage Walk, London. To view the two-day programme and book your place, please visit the event website.