MEGAJOULE|Inovação officially started its work in the beginning of 2010 and will offer its services in Mesoscale Modeling and CFD simulations and spearhead the development of new services and products for the wind energy market. Its mission is the continuing development of innovative advanced solutions for the wind energy industry, in order to secure MEGAJOULE’s position as the Portuguese market leader. To achieve this goal, the company has established strong links with University institutions. MEGAJOULE|Inovação works with mesoscale numerical modeling and its own CFD code developed for wind energy applications in complex sites.

 

In 2007, MEGAJOULE developed and tested a methodology for mapping wind resources in any location on the globe, using the WRF (weather research and forecasting) model. Amongst its projects, MEGAJOULE made the first wind resource map for East Timor in cooperation with Martifer Renewables in 2008, as well as many studies of micrositing wind parks in Central and Eastern Europe using Mesoscale Modeling data.

 

In addition to Mesoscale Modeling, MEGAJOULE|Inovação offers CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) in its portfolio of services, having performed CFD studies of various complex sites for Ventinveste, ENEOP2 and Enercon. CFD codes can estimate the effects of very complex features on wind turbines, such as very steep slopes, escarpments, obstacles and forestation. This detailed CFD wind flow modeling in very complex sites can significantly reduce uncertainty and risk in wind resource assessment. Furthermore, CFD can also be used to select the best sites on a wind farm to conduct wind measurements. MEGAJOULE|Inovação works with its own state-of-the-art CFD code specially developed for wind energy applications in complex terrain. The code has specially developed solutions for forested areas, thermal stability and coupling with Mesoscale Modeling results, which make it one of the most advanced tools in the market.

 

Apart from the well established services of Mesoscale Modeling and CFD, MEGAJOULE|Inovação plans to expand its activities and develop new services. MEGAJOULE|Inovação is presently studying approaches to forecasting and off-shore wind resource assessment.

 

The lastest tool used by the MEGAJOULE|Inovação team is the CFD code Windie™. The software code is property of Windie Lda and is exclusively used by MEGAJOULE consultants. Windie™ is a new tool for the simulation of three-dimensional flows over complex terrain. It stands out from other software codes, due to its advanced forest canopy modeling and its ability to be coupled with mesoscale results, producing much more representative solutions of local wind patterns.