Shadow flicker effects today are one of the main effects of wind turbines for people living – or working – in the vicinity of a wind turbine park. Limits are often expressed as a maximum number of hours per year and per day that shadow flicker may occur on a particular ‘receiver’ object. When operating a wind turbine park, more accurate information on receiver objects is needed. GIM has designed an automated processes to combine information about buildings and addresses with the location of the wind turbines, which is offered as a service to wind turbine operators.

1. Mapping shadow flickering from wind
turbines using FME

2. Presenter
The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
Martin Leroy
Product Manager FME
GIM nv

3. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
What is shadow flickering?

4. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
https://www.wkcgroup.com/news/wind-turbines-and-shadow-flicker-impacts/
People living (or working)
in the vicinity of wind
turbines experience
shadow effects of the
rotating blades

5. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
Why do we measure shadow flickering
→ Environmental legislation imposes maximum duration of
flickering effects on buildings (windows) nearby
→ Duration is expressed in maximum hours per year and
per day
→ Operations must be temporarily stopped in case of
exceeding the maximum

6. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
When do we measure shadow flickering
Typically measured at two stages:
• Prior to building a wind turbine park (feasibility study)
• During the operational phase of a wind turbine park
(using extensive logs)

7. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
Complexity of measuring shadow flickering
• Which façades are relevant (e.g. exclude industrial
hangars)
• Which façades are already in the shade of other buildings
• Which façades have no windows

8. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
By processing lots of data
● Addresses of houses
● Coordinates of objects
● Building types
● Building geometry
● Building use
● Terrain and building height
● Façade properties
● Seasonality and sun position
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/living-wind-energys-shadow
How do we measure shadow flickering

9. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
Building future-proof location
strategies and streamline your
operations with the 3D digital
twin of the living environment

10. The
Peak
of
Data
Integration
20
23
Solving this complex problem by providing
accurate input data
Automated processing as a service

11. Thank You!
martin.leroy@gim.be