Case Study: SSE (UK & Ireland renewable generator) increases power yield and cuts modeling uncertainty with ANSYS WindModeller

Simulation of Wind Turbine Sites Increases Power Yield and Reduces Risk

SSE, the largest renewable generator of electricity across the UK and Ireland, faced the challenge of accurately predicting wind speed, shear, veer and turbulence in complex onshore terrain where forestry, atmospheric stability and turbine interactions materially affect energy yield and asset lifetime. Many industry tools struggled with these factors, so SSE adopted ANSYS solutions—specifically ANSYS CFX with WindModeller and support from the ANSYS ACE consulting and support team—to meet its detailed siting and resource-assessment needs.

ANSYS worked with SSE to deploy ANSYS CFX with WindModeller on SSE’s in‑house HPC cluster and validated the approach across more than 25 onshore projects, with ANSYS ACE accelerating the deployment. The solution improved modeling fidelity (SSE reports CFD reduces flow-modeling uncertainties by about a third), enabled optimized turbine siting and selection, and produced measurable business impact—WindModeller is now a core part of SSE’s toolset, and even a 1% yield improvement can deliver several million pounds on a typical 100 MW project over 20 years—while reducing risk to long‑term asset integrity.

SSE

Christopher Rodaway

CFD Engineer & Wind Analyst, Resource Assessment