At a glance
ASHES is a design and analysis software tool for simulation of offshore and onshore wind turbines.
Renewable energy is the most important and affordable means of combating global warming and phasing out fossil-based energy. Currently, only wind and solar technologies are available on an industrial scale for energy production.
The high installation cost of wind power generation units is the biggest challenge faced by the power sector. One of the most effective ways to promote installation of wind power capacity is therefore to lower the levelised cost of energy (LCOE).
Simis has developed ASHES, a design and analysis software tool for simulating onshore and offshore wind turbines. This essential and sophisticated tool for wind turbine engineers offers a comprehensive user interface as well as provides a fully capable and optimised aeroelastic simulation core.
The software improves wind turbine simulation along two main axes. First, it increases the speed of simulation 100 times by seamlessly integrating cloud computing. Second, it improves the user experience, thereby increasing efficiency, decreasing the number of errors and improving quality of design.
ASHES uses cloud computing for wind turbine simulations, which enables multiple simulations in a short time period. Typically, companies run thousands of simulations daily. With ASHES, the duration for a batch of simulations can drop from multiple days to about one hour. The cost per simulation is also significantly reduced due to use of cloud computing technology.
These enhanced capabilities make wind turbine designers more efficient and speed up the cycles of improvement and innovation, all of which help to lower the LCOE.
The estimated market size for wind turbine simulation software is roughly USD 56 million globally, with a projected 10 per cent annual growth. The rapid onshore deployment of wind turbines is the primary contributor to the demand growth for simulation tools.
In addition, cloud computing may open new market avenues and potentially double the simulation software market size within five years.
Paul E. Thomassen
CEO