Hill of Towie wind software increased paired-turbine output by up to 2.5%

A wind farm in the UK tested new software that was created to boost farm-wide energy production.

Worldwide, electricity consumption is continuously increasing, requiring rapid renewable energy capacity growth.

Bigger turbines are being deployed to boost power production, but overall energy yields are often lower than expected.

Following the success of the field trials, RES’s Dynamic Yaw software is now transitioning into scalable operational deployment.

To address this, a Scottish facility became the first to conduct field trials with a new alignment control product.

Will this technology transform wind power production?

How modernization is complicating green initiatives

Change is inevitable, yet very few could have predicted how quickly the modern world would continue to evolve.

It is these continuous advancements that are driving global electricity consumption.

Recent International Energy Agency data indicate that worldwide demand is climbing at a 3.6% annual rate.

This annual rate is driven by electrification and data center expansion.

The trend has become equally pressing in the United Kingdom.

Its national energy demand has reached 323 terawatt-hours, with domestic electricity usage rising by up to 6.4%.

Consequently, these increases have begun threatening strict climate targets.

While renewable growth hit a record 153 terawatt-hours in 2025, more additions are needed to bridge a widening supply gap.

Unfortunately, deploying brand-new green infrastructure faces spatial and financial bottlenecks.

To overcome this, developers are actively working on maximizing the efficiency of wind assets.

In general, this entails deploying larger turbines to boost power output.

Yet this solution is not entirely adequate.

Going bigger is not necessarily better

Globally, developers are increasingly deploying much larger wind turbines at existing sites to harness more clean energy.

By scaling up rotor diameters and hub heights, turbines are meant to capture steadier, stronger winds at elevated heights.

However, a unique phenomenon was never considered when the output predictions were made.

Larger turbines do raise the power output, but at much lower yields than planned.

This is caused by “wake losses,” which entail turbines “stealing” wind from each other.

When upstream turbines capture wind energy, it creates a turbulent, slower-moving shadow of air trailing behind it.

This trailing air is called a wake.

Downstream turbines located inside the wakes experience reduced wind speeds with higher turbulence.

As a result, electricity generation drops while mechanical fatigue accelerates.

This inefficiency is being addressed by RES, which has deployed its advanced control technology at scale.

Scotland’s 21-turbine Hill of Towie wind farm served as the field testing location.

Tackling output losses with advanced control

RES is addressing wind turbine wake losses with its proprietary Dynamic Yaw software.

The software uses active wake steering, meaning it deliberately changes the alignment of upstream turbines.

Instead of the upstream turbines directly facing the wind, they are nudged off-center.

This offset uses aerodynamic lift to redirect turbulent wakes away from downstream installations.

The field trials at Hill of Towie used specific validation methodologies to test the feasibility of the Dynamic Yaw software.

The changes in combined energy generation

By using ground LiDAR and WindEurope‘s open-source validation, the results were proven successful.

The yaw adjustments increased the total generation by up to 2.5% on specific turbine pairs.

Furthermore, the preliminary farm-wide annual energy production was raised by 0.6%.

These results prove that active wake steering at commercial scale can be a feasible solution to boost overall power output.

Following the success of the field trials, RES’s Dynamic Yaw software is now transitioning into scalable operational deployment.

The commercial validation signals a major shift for wind power not just in the UK, but also globally.

Efficiency gains can be maximized industry-wide by retrofitting legacy assets with smart alignment controls.

However, it is essential to also adopt open-source validation frameworks. Ultimately, by scaling this software, hidden energy capacities can be unlocked without deploying new infrastructure.