Join the Open Data Exploration space with knowledge sharing pioneer Charlie Plumley!

Last year we launched the Cubico Open Data Exploration (CODE) space together with Charlie Plumley, with the aim of bringing together a community of people working on the open data sets provided by Cubico Sustainable Investments. Now this space is opening up to explore other open data sets, and changing its name from the Cubico Open Data Exploration (CODE) space to the Open Data Exploration (ODE) space!

There are currently 96 people signed up to take part in the space, with about 10-20 people actively taking part in the monthly webinars.

The first challenge created by Charlie Plumley, "Operational energy yield analysis using open data", aims to predict the long-term 20-year energy yield of the assets and associated uncertainties using operational data of the Kelmarsh and Penmanshiel wind farms, open data sets provided by Cubico Sustainable Investments. The results should show expected energy yield at the meter, including:

So far, we five different submissions for Kelmarsh and four for Penmanshiel. A comparison of the P50 Gross AEP, the P50 Net AEP and the P90 Net AEP for each wind farm are shown in the figure below. The group named "KELP02S01" applied the open-source library OpenOA.

A maximum variation of about 4% can be seen in the results, which could be significant in wind farm project planning. The main differences were attributed to different methods for long-term extrapolation and different assumptions for the losses. However, it is difficult to assess the results when no ground truth is known. For this reason, a new group has formed within this space, aiming to address this problem, as discussed below.

This challenge is still running! Are you interested in comparing your method to these results, as well as learning about state-of-the art methods for operational energy yield calculations? Then join us for our next monthly webinar!

As well as the challenge mentioned above, there is an on-going "Challenge: pitch for topics", in which participants can pitch their own ideas for new topics. Decisions are made via voting, the results of which can be viewed live on our digital platform, as shown below.

Based on this voting, we are preparing a new challenge "Standardised methods to assess operational energy yield analysis quality". This challenge asks participants to consider how we could improve operational energy yield assessment methods if there is no agreed upon manner to determine what are successful, accurate methods. It will based on estimations using the Kelmarsh and Penmanshiel wind farms data. Join us to find out more!

Charlie Plumley is the driving force of this space, and has now left Cubico Sustainable Investments for a new role. The space will continue to be lead by him, but we will remove the "C" from "CODE".

Charlie is a dedicated advocate for transparency, openness, and knowledge sharing within the wind industry. His vision is that by fostering these principles, the industry can embrace inclusivity, accelerate innovation, achieve rapid development, and compete more effectively. This, in turn, will play a pivotal role in expediting a fair and sustainable energy transition.   Charlie's expertise lies in several critical domains, including wind farm performance and optimization, asset longevity, turbine control systems, and the strategic utilization of operational wind farm data. These focal points were central to his doctoral research in Smart Rotor Control at Strathclyde University and have been honed throughout his professional journey, which has included roles at SgurrEnergy, Cubico Sustainable Investments, and his current position as Senior Performance Engineer at Glennmont.   With a passion for driving positive change and a wealth of experience, Charlie remains committed to advancing the wind energy sector and steering it towards a greener, more equitable future.

You can read more about the ODE space below:

You can sign up to the space using the button below and selecting the ODE space in the form. We hope to see you soon!