A hundred and forty turbines in the North Sea - and some GPUs in the cloud - pumped wind under the wings of David Standingford and Jamil Appa's dream.
As colleagues at a British aerospace firm, they shared a vision of starting a company to apply their expertise in high performance computing across many industries.
They formed Zenotech and coded what they learned about computational fluid dynamics into a program called zCFD. They also built a tool, EPIC, that simplified running it and other HPC jobs on the latest hardware in public clouds.
But getting visibility beyond their Bristol, U.K. home was a challenge, given the lack of large, open datasets to show what their tools could do.
Harvesting a Wind Farm's Data Their problem dovetailed with one in the wind energy sector.
As government subsidies for wind farms declined, investors demanded a deeper analysis of a project's likely return on investment, something traditional tools didn't deliver. A U.K. government project teamed Zenotech with consulting firms in renewable energy and SSE, a large British utility willing to share data on its North Sea wind farm, one of the largest in the world.
Zenotech simulated SSE's Greater Gabbard wind farm, one of the largest of many in the North Sea. Using zCFD, Zenotech simulated the likely energy output of the farm's 140 turbines. The program accounted for dozens of wind speeds and directions. This included key but previously untracked phenomena in front of and behind a turbine, like the combined effects the turbines had on each other.
These so-called wake' and blockage' effects around a wind farm can even impact atmospheric currents, said Standingford, a director and co-founder of Zenotech.
The program can also track small but significant terrain effects on the wind, such as when trees in a nearby forest lose their leaves.
SSE validated that the final simulation came within 2 percent of the utility's measured data, giving zCFD a stellar reference.
Accelerated in the Cloud Icing the cake, Zenotech showed cloud GPUs delivered results fast and cost effectively.
For example, the program ran 43x faster on NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs than CPUs at a quarter of the CPUs' costs, the company reported in a recent GTC session (viewable on-demand). NVIDIA NCCL libraries that speed communications between GPU systems further boosted results up to 15 percent.
Zenotech benchmarked zCFD on NVIDIA GPUs (green on the left chart) versus CPUs (blue) as well as GPU clusters with and without NCCL libraries (right chart). As a result, work that took more than five hours on CPUs ran in less than 50 minutes on GPUs. The ability to analyze nuanced wind effects in detail and finish a report in a day got people's attention, Standingford said.
The tools and computing power to perform high-fidelity simulations of wind projects are now affordable and accessible to the wider industry, he concluded in a report on the project.
Lowering Carbon, Easing Climate Change Wind energy is among the largest, most cost-effective contributors to lowering carbon emissions, notes Farah Hariri, technical lead for the team helping NVIDIA's customers manage their transitions to net-zero emissions.
By modeling both wake interactions and the blockage effects, zCFD helps wind farms extract the maximum energy for the minimum installation costs, she said.
This kind of fast yet detailed analysis lowers risk for investors, making wind farms more economically attractive than traditional energy sources, said Richard Whiting, a partner at Everose, one of the consultants who worked on the project with Zenotech.
Looking forward, Whiting estimates more than 2,100 gigawatts of wind farms could be in operation worldwide by 2030, up 3x from in 2020. It's a growing opportunity on many levels.
In future, we expect projects will use larger arrays of larger turbines so the modeling challenge will only get bigger, he added.
Less Climate Change, More Business Helping renewable projects get off the ground also put wind in Zenotech's sails.
Since the SSE analysis, the company has helped design wind farms or turbines in at least 10 other projects across Europe and Asia. And half of Zenotech's business is now outside the U.K.
As the company expands, it's also revisiting its roots in aerospace, lifting the prospects of new kinds of businesses for drones and air taxis.
A Parallel Opportunity For example, Cardiff Airport is sponsoring live trials where emerging companies use zCFD on cloud GPUs to predict wind shifts in urban environments so they can map safe, efficient routes.
It's a forward-thinking way to use today's managed airspace to plan future services like air taxis and automated airport inspections, said Standingford.
We're seeing a lot of innovation in small aircraft platforms, and we're working with top platform makers and key sites in the U.K.
It's one more way the company is keeping its finger to the wind.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
A hundred and forty turbines in the North Sea - and some GPUs in the cloud - pumped wind under the wings of David Standingford and Jamil Appa's dream.
