Personal statement

My areas of expertise are Control Engineering and Wind Energy Systems with particular focus on the conceptual design of wind turbines and wind turbine and farm control system design. My research leadership roles include head of the Wind Energy Research Group at Strathclyde and Director of the Industrial Control Centre. The Wind Energy Research Group has more than 70 PhD students and Research Assistants. Additionally, I am Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Wind Energy Systems, which is hosted by Strathclyde, and its successor, the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Wind and Marine Energy Systems, and I Chair the EPSRC Supergen Wind Energy Hub. I am, also, on the Executive Committee of the EPSRC Industrial Doctoral Centre in Offshore Renewable Energy, which is a partnership between Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Exeter Universities.

I am actively involved with many national and international wind energy research and policy committees including the European Academy of Wind Energy Executive Committee, European Energy Alliance Joint Programme Wind Steering Committee and ORECatapult Research Advisory Group.

Prizes and awards

Poster Award Winner: Recipient; 20/6/2018

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Publications

A generic approach to wind farm control and the power adjusting controller: Stock Adam, Leithead William; Wind Energy Vol 25, pp. 1735-1757 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1002/we.2765
A review of operations and maintenance modelling with considerations for novel wind turbine concepts: McMorland Jade, Flannigan Callum, Carroll James, Collu Maurizio, McMillan David, Leithead William, Coraddu Andrea; Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Vol 165 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112581
Aerodynamic modelling of a novel vertical axis wind turbine concept: Morgan Laurence, Leithead William; Journal of Physics: Conference Series Vol 2257 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2257/1/012001
A straightforward approach to site-wide assessment of wind turbine tower lifetime extension potential: Grieve Nicola, Kazemi Amiri Abbas Mehrad, Leithead William E; Energies Vol 15 (2022); https://doi.org/10.3390/en15093380
Operations expenditure modelling of the X-Rotor offshore wind turbine concept: Flannigan Callum, Carroll James, Leithead William; Journal of Physics: Conference Series Vol 2265 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2265/3/032054
Design and implementation of a wind farm controller using aerodynamics estimated from LIDAR scans of wind turbine blades: Stock Adam, Amos Lindsey, Alves Rui, Leithead William; IEEE Control Systems Letters Vol 5, pp. 1735-1740 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1109/LCSYS.2020.3043686

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Research interests

In Control his research interests include linear systems theory and analysis and nonlinear system modelling and identification;
In Wind Energy his research interests include the dynamic analysis of wind turbines and wind farms, their dynamic modelling and simulation, control system design and optimisation.

Professional activities

SUPERGEN WIND HLG/EPSRC Meeting (Event): Chair; 11/4/2016
SUPERGEN Wind Hub General Board Meeting at Fife Renewables Innovation Centre, Leven, Fife (Event): Chair; 29/2/2016
14h NOWITECH Full Scientific Committee (Event): Member; 19/1/2016
SUPERGEN Poster Session followed by SUPERGEN PI Round Table meeting: Contributor; 19/11/2015
WINDTRUST Workshop: Organiser; 18/11/2015
NORCOWE Board Meeting (External organisation): Member; 11/2015

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Projects

Industrial CASE Account - University of Strathclyde 2021 | Fojcik, Piotr: Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Fojcik, Piotr (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2025
Holistic Advanced Prototyping and Interfacing for Wave Energy Control: Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Campos-Gaona, David (Co-investigator) McDonald, Alasdair (Co-investigator) Stock, Adam (Research Co-investigator); 06-Jan-2021 - 05-Jan-2024
XROTOR (H2020 LC SC3) X-Shaped Radical Offshore Wind Turbine For Overall Cost Of Energy Reduction': Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Allan, Grant (Co-investigator) Anaya-Lara, Olimpo (Co-investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Jamieson, Peter (Co-investigator) Stock, Adam (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2023
KTP - Natural Power. Develop a wind turbine generator (WTG) monitoring solution for novel control and extended life operations.: Stock, Adam (Principal Investigator) Kazemi Amiri, Abbas (Co-investigator) Leithead, Bill (Co-investigator); 16-Jan-2020 - 15-Jan-2022
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Wind and Marine Energy Systems and Structures: Carroll, James (Principal Investigator) Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Brennan, Feargal (Co-investigator) Brennan, Feargal (Co-investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Jamieson, Peter (Co-investigator) Kolios, Athanasios (Co-investigator) Kolios, Athanasios (Co-investigator) Leithead, Bill (Co-investigator) McDonald, Alasdair (Co-investigator) McDonald, Alasdair (Co-investigator) Mehmanparast, Ali (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2027
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Wind and Marine Energy Systems and Structures: Carroll, James (Principal Investigator) Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Leithead, Bill (Principal Investigator) Brennan, Feargal (Co-investigator) Brennan, Feargal (Co-investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Carroll, James (Co-investigator) Jamieson, Peter (Co-investigator) Kolios, Athanasios (Co-investigator) Kolios, Athanasios (Co-investigator) Leithead, Bill (Co-investigator) McDonald, Alasdair (Co-investigator) McDonald, Alasdair (Co-investigator) Mehmanparast, Ali (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2027

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Address

Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University Centre

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Professor William Leithead

Professor Of Systems And Control

Electronic and Electrical Engineering