Simon Watson

Simon Watson is a Professor of Wind Energy in CREST (the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology) and heads up the Wind and Water Power Research Team. His main research expertise is in the field of wind energy.

Prof Watson has been working at Loughborough University since 2001 and his main research areas include:

Condition Monitoring of Wind Turbines: developing methods to analyse the performance and structure of wind turbines to provide prediction of potential failures;
Wind Resource Assessment: using advanced computer models to better predict the expected wind resource at more challenging sites, e.g. in complex terrain, near forests, offshore and in the built environment;
Wind Power Forecasting: developing advanced numerical and statistical forecasting methods for long term and short term prediction of expected wind farm output;
Wake Modelling: using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to study wake interactions within large arrays of wind turbines;
Wave Power Device Modelling: experimental and numerical studies of novel wave power devices;
Climate Change Impacts: studying the impact of climate change on the electricity supply industry including wind power.
Prof Watson is a member of the European Academy for Wind Energy and is a board member of of the European Renewable Energy Research Centres Agency (EUREC). He is also on the editorial panel for Wind Engineering. Prof Watson as been Head of the Energy Division, and is also the Programme Director for the European Masters in Renewable Energy.