Maths experts asked to cut costs of wind farms

Mathematicians in the UK and France have been given an estimated €1.8 million (£1.4 million) funding to find ways of cutting the cost of moving parts needed for offshore wind farms. […]

Mathematicians in the UK and France have been given an estimated €1.8 million (£1.4 million) funding to find ways of cutting the cost of moving parts needed for offshore wind farms.

This is part of an EU initiative in which logistics experts from the Universities of Portsmouth, Plymouth and Le Havre are looking at reducing the cost of setting up and maintaining offshore wind sites.

Dylan Jones, a mathematician at the University of Portsmouth said: “Considerable savings could be made if logistics were better used to focus specifically on transporting wind farm parts.

“Every time someone loads their weekly shopping into the boot of their car they are using logistics to work out where to place each oddly shaped bag. The same principle can be applied to the problem of delivering enormous wind turbine parts all over Europe at the lowest cost.”

The researchers will look at ways to coordinate port maintenance, drive down logistic costs and provide suitable transportation to and from the wind farms, which are expected to cut the cost of producing energy.

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