WISDEM — The Complete Guide: Systems Design and Optimisation of Wind Turbines
WISDEM (Wind-Plant Integrated System Design and Engineering Model) was developed at NREL, now called the National Laboratory of the Rockies. Rather than checking one component in isolation, it treats the turbine as a system: a longer blade affects the tower, the drivetrain and the cost, and WISDEM computes all of this together to find the best trade-off.
WISDEM
National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL)
Systems-engineering and optimisation framework for wind turbines and plants, from rotor and tower to cost of energy.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Engineering modules — rotor aerodynamics, drivetrain and generator, tower and floating platforms.
- Cost models — component cost, plant cost and levelised cost of energy (LCOE).
- Optimisation — built on OpenMDAO, with derivatives for multidisciplinary optimisation.
- YAML inputs — a data format shared with other tools from the same lab.
- Apache 2.0 licence — free for any use, including commercial work.
Who it suits and what to know
Researchers, graduate students and mechanical or structural engineers in wind energy working at the conceptual stage. It is not a tool for detailed design or certification, and the learning curve is real: you need a Python environment, basic familiarity with OpenMDAO and a willingness to read the documentation. A basic GUI exists, but most work is done in code.
Related tools
For full dynamic simulation of the turbine — OpenFAST. For wake effects and plant layout — FLORIS. For blade design with a graphical interface — QBlade.
OpenFAST
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Aeroelastic simulation of wind turbines, from NREL.
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FLORIS
National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL)
Python library for wind-farm wake modelling, energy-yield estimates and turbine control studies.
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QBlade Community Edition
QBlade (originally TU Berlin, Hermann-Föttinger-Institut)
Aero-servo-hydro-elastic wind turbine simulation. The Community Edition is free for non-commercial use only.
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OpenMDAO
NASA Glenn Research Center
A framework for multidisciplinary optimisation, from NASA.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
WISDEM is the leading open tool for systems design of wind turbines. It suits anyone willing to invest in learning who wants to see how design decisions drive the cost of energy.