Wind Energy has become one of the cheapest energy sources that can be used for our human energy demand. Thus, more and more wind turbines are installed, preferably in regions with high wind speeds. Therefore, they are operating under highly turbulent working conditions. Wind turbines can be considered as the largest turbulence machines we construct nowadays. For the design of wind turbines, several aspects of the features of the turbulent wind conditions are taken into account. In this contribution, we will discuss how far this standard wind characterization is sufficient. We will discuss which aspects of the advanced understanding of turbulence are relevant for the Wind Energy conversion process, and where we see new challenging research topics related to turbulence and Wind Energy.

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Joachim Peinke is professor in Experimental Physics devoted to Wind Energy at the Department of Physics of the University of Oldenburg. In 2003, he acted as a founding member of `ForWind' - the Centre for Wind Energy Research of the universities Oldenburg, Hannover and Bremen. Since, then, he is a member of the board of directors of `ForWind'. Since 2009, he heads the Department Fluid and System dynamics of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology. In 2012 - 2013, he has been President of the European Academy of Wind Energy.

    Nous remercions la Fondation Mines Nancy et le programme Erasmus+ pour leur soutien, qui nous ont permis d'inviter le Prof. Peinke à donner cette conférence, et à participer aussi à un cours école.