Nearly four decades of UK wind energy leadership.
WEC’s roots go back to 1981, when Professor Michael Grimble founded Strathclyde’s Industrial Control Centre — and to 1988, when Professor Bill Leithead established a wind energy research stream within it. That stream has since grown into one of the largest university-based wind energy research groups in the UK — with a track record of national doctoral training leadership, EU-funded turbine innovation, and sustained industry partnership that spans decades.
Where WEC comes from
WEC is the present-day face of a much longer Strathclyde control engineering tradition — not a group that appeared from nowhere in 1988.
In 1981, Professor Michael Grimble founded the Industrial Control Centre (ICC) at Strathclyde, which grew into a significant international name in industrial and robust control — producing widely-used textbooks (Robust Industrial Control Systems, Industrial Control Systems Design), co-editing Springer’s long-running Advances in Industrial Control book series, and spinning out Industrial Systems and Control Ltd, still active decades later.
Professor Bill Leithead established a wind energy research stream within the ICC in 1988. As that stream grew — eventually chairing the Supergen Wind Hub and leading Strathclyde’s first EPSRC wind energy CDT — Leithead went on to serve as the ICC’s own Director, carrying its rigour directly into wind energy control. That stream grew into what is now the Wind Energy and Control (WEC) Group.
National doctoral training leadership
Since 2009, WEC has led four consecutive national EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training — an unbroken run that’s rare among UK research groups. Strathclyde describes the current centre as “the UK’s only comprehensive doctoral training programme in Wind & Marine Energy Systems & Structures.”
- EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Wind Energy (2009–2017) — led by Professor Bill Leithead
- EPSRC CDT in Wind and Marine Energy Systems (2014–2022) — led by Professor Bill Leithead
- EPSRC CDT in Wind and Marine Energy Systems and Structures / WAMSS (2019–2027, active) — led by Professor James Carroll, with Oxford and Edinburgh
- CDT in Engineering Hydrogen Net Zero / EnerHy (2024–2032, active) — Strathclyde-led wind component, led by Professor James Carroll
Source: WAMSS CDT, University of Strathclyde.
Major funded programmes
A baseline of ~£12.8m in EPSRC doctoral training and Hub funding, plus a further €4m EU-funded turbine innovation project coordinated by WEC.
| Programme | Funder / value | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Doctoral Training Centre in Wind Energy Systems | EPSRC, £5,883,329 | 2009–2018 |
| Supergen Wind Hub (chaired by Prof. Leithead) | EPSRC, £2,967,189 | 2014–2019 |
| EPSRC CDT in Wind and Marine Energy Systems | EPSRC, £3,938,392 | 2014–2022 |
| EPSRC CDT WAMSS | EPSRC, “more than £6 million” (press-quoted) | 2019–2027 |
| X-ROTOR — novel offshore turbine concept, Strathclyde-led | EU Horizon 2020, €4m | 2021–2024 |
| ORE Catapult Electrical Infrastructure Research Hub (with University of Manchester) | £3.1m (£700k ORE Catapult + £2.4m university match) | 2018–ongoing |
Recognition
European Academy of Wind Energy — Honorary Membership
In 2023, Professor Bill Leithead became only the sixth person in a decade to receive Honorary Membership of the European Academy of Wind Energy, “for his life achievements in the fields of control engineering and wind energy systems.” His career spans 300 published papers and 75+ research grants.
Named in the US DOE national O&M roadmap
Strathclyde researchers James Carroll and David McMillan are named contributors to the US Department of Energy’s “Operations and Maintenance Roadmap for U.S. Offshore Wind,” alongside experts from NREL, Siemens Gamesa, GE, and EDF — genuine international recognition for WEC’s O&M and reliability research.
Industry partnerships
WEC’s industry relationships aren’t one-off projects — several have run for a decade or more, reflecting sustained trust from major energy operators.
- SSE and ScottishPower — the Technology & Innovation Centre’s Scottish Low Carbon Power & Energy Partnership has run since 2013, extended into its tenth year in 2022.
- ORE Catapult — Electrical Infrastructure Research Hub with the University of Manchester; Professor Leithead sits on ORE Catapult’s Research Advisory Group.
- Natural Power — Knowledge Transfer Partnership on wind-turbine-generator monitoring for novel control and extended-life operation.
- EDF Renewables — advanced forecasting and decision-support research for offshore wind operations.
- EnerHy and WAMSS CDT industrial partners — ESB, Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy, Statkraft, OceanWinds, SSE, Natural Power and PETRONAS.
Novel turbine innovation: X-Rotor
X-Rotor is a radical hybrid vertical-axis/horizontal-axis offshore turbine concept, coordinated by Strathclyde under a €4m EU Horizon 2020 grant, with an international consortium including TU Delft, University College Cork, NTNU (Norway), GE Renewables España and CENER (Spain).
Peer-reviewed modelling shows the concept could achieve Levelised Cost of Energy reductions of 10–19% compared with conventional turbines — the EU’s own project reporting confirms savings “of up to 19%.” Development continues through the EnerHy CDT, with current PhD research on X-Rotor aerodynamics and a three-bladed variant. Additionally, farm-level LCoE is expected to see even greater savings through greatly reduced wake losses from the X-Rotor.
Research impact
Individual citation counts (Google Scholar) for current WEC academics reflect a sustained, internationally-read body of work:
- Professor Olimpo Anaya-Lara — cited by ~9,400+
- Dr David McMillan — cited by ~5,400+
- Professor James Carroll — cited by ~4,150+
This is the centre built to de-risk your wind technology.
Nearly four decades of continuous wind energy research, national doctoral training leadership, and sustained industry partnership — WEC brings genuine depth to every engagement.
© The Wind Energy and Control (WEC) Group · University of Strathclyde