Effective short-cut modelling of wind park efficiency

A short-cut model suitable for the estimation of the overall wind park efficiency was developed. Its parameters were estimated by fitting the predictions of a detailed explicit kinematic wake model for a wide range of wind velocities, number of turbines utilized, relative distances of turbines and various types of commercial wind turbines. An empirical model was used to represent the turbine power curve. The turbine grid adopted was the uniform one, where each individual machine is equally placed between its neighbours. The proposed short-cut model represented the full model in a quite satisfactory way and it was presented in a suitable formulation for dealing with wind park preliminary design problems. The effect of wind direction was also taken into consideration and was properly analysed.     

Flicker contribution from wind turbine installations

In this paper, the flicker emission from a wind park connected to a grid with a high wind energy penetration is evaluated. The influence of wind speed, turbulence intensity, grid voltage quality, grid types, and number of turbines operating in the same group is measured and analyzed. The investigated wind turbines are of constant-speed stall-regulated type. It is found that the voltage quality of the grid to which the turbines are connected strongly influences the flicker emission of the turbines. Moreover, it is found that the formula used in IEC-61400-21 for determining the flicker contribution from a whole wind park gives too low total flicker value.     

基于网格-坐标化遗传算法的风电场布局优化

采用Jensen尾流模型来描述风电机组间尾流的干扰效应。首先基于网格化的改进遗传算法获得风电机组的数量和布局初始位置,再通过坐标化遗传算法对风电机组位置进行进一步调整优化,从而提高单位成本的发电量。根据所提出的方法,在3种不同的风场（定风向定风速、定风速变风向和变风速变风向）下,针对2 km×2 km的标准风场区域进行风电机组布局优化,再将其应用到不规则的实际案例,对比分析表明所提出的方法能有效提高发电量。     

Performance evaluation of Jepirachi Wind Park

This paper presents some technical details, operational experiences, and lessons learnt by the Colombian public utility – Empresas Públicas de Medellín – with a recently installed 19.5 MW wind park in the northern region of Colombia – province of La Guajira. This is the first ever wind park feeding to the electricity network in Colombia. The Jepirachi Wind Park was commissioned in April 2004 and it has to date accumulated nearly 180,000 h of operation. During that time 15 NORDEX N60/1.3 MW turbines have fed electricity to the Colombian main electricity grid. This work describes the park layout, including meteorological stations installed in the surroundings and the wind regime prevailing in the zone. Details are also given about remote monitoring of the Wind Park and individual turbines, through the Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA Nordex Control 2). Since July 2004, Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EEPPM) and Universidad de Los Andes-Bogotá, Colombia have been working together in a wind park performance monitoring programme. This has permitted both institutions to learn more rapidly matters relating to evaluation, planning and operation of wind parks exposed to extreme climatic conditions like those present in the semi-desert region of the Guajira. This work describes the wind park operation, where individual wind turbines have yielded monthly production capacity factors as high as 65–75%; values which are high when compared to similar turbines installed elsewhere. Accordingly, levels of electrical energy production of up to 1750 kWh/m²-year per turbine have been measured, exceeding typical values reported in the wind energy literature. A series of operational and technical troubles have become evident, which are related to some of the particular features of the climate and the wind regime at the site of the Jepirachi Wind Park. Because of these local features it is suggested that a greater level of uncertainty (limiting the validity of methods and hypotheses) may exist in the study and planning of future wind parks in regions such as La Guajira.     

Hybridizing the fifth generation mesoscale model with artificial neural networks for short-term wind speed prediction

This paper presents the hybridization of the fifth generation mesoscale model (MM5) with neural networks in order to tackle a problem of short-term wind speed prediction. The mean hourly wind speed forecast at wind turbines in a wind park is an important parameter used to predict the total power production of the park. Our model for short-term wind speed forecast integrates a global numerical weather prediction model and observations at different heights (using atmospheric soundings) as initial and boundary conditions for the MM5 model. Then, the outputs of this model are processed using a neural network to obtain the wind speed forecast in specific points of the wind park. In the experiments carried out, we present some results of wind speed forecasting in a wind park located at the south-east of Spain. The results are encouraging, and show that our hybrid MM5-neural network approach is able to obtain good short-term predictions of wind speed at specific points.     

A Metric Space with LCOE Isolines for Research Guidance in wind and hydrokinetic energy systems

This paper introduces a new Metric Space to guide the design of advanced wind energy systems and hydrokinetic energy converters such as tidal, ocean current and riverine turbines. The Metric Space can analyse farms that combine different or identical turbines and stand‐alone turbines. The first metric (M1) of the space considers the efficiency of the turbines in the farm, which is also proportional to the specific power per swept area at a given wind/water velocity (W/m²). The second metric (M2) describes the specific rotor area per unit of mass of the turbines (m²/kg). Both metrics depend on the primary design characteristics of the turbines, such as swept area, system size and mass, materials and efficiency, and are independent at first from external characteristics, such as atmospheric and ocean site conditions, cost of materials and economic factors. Combining both metrics, and for a given set of external characteristics, the resulting Metric Space M2/M1 displays the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) standards as isolines. This graphical representation provides a quick understanding of the cost and state of the technology. It also offers a practical guidance to choose the research tasks and strategy to design advanced wind and hydrokinetic energy systems. The paper applies the new Metric Space to several case studies, including large and small onshore wind turbines, floating and bottom‐fixed offshore wind turbines, downwind rotors, multi‐rotor and hybrid systems, airborne wind energy systems, wind farms and tidal energy converters.     

A fast and effective local search algorithm for optimizing the placement of wind turbines

The placement of wind turbines on a given area of land such that the wind farm produces a maximum amount of energy is a challenging optimization problem. In this article, we tackle this problem, taking into account wake effects that are produced by the different turbines on the wind farm. We significantly improve upon existing results for the minimization of wake effects by developing a new problem-specific local search algorithm. One key step in the speed-up of our algorithm is the reduction in computation time needed to assess a given wind farm layout compared to previous approaches. Our new method allows the optimization of large real-world scenarios within a single night on a standard computer, whereas weeks on specialized computing servers were required for previous approaches.     

Optimal placement of wind turbines in a wind park using Monte Carlo simulation

In the present study, a novel procedure is introduced for the optimal placement and arrangement of wind turbines in a wind park. In this approach a statistical and mathematical method is used, which is called ‘Monte Carlo simulation method’. The optimization is made by the mean of maximum energy production and minimum cost installation criteria. As a test case, a square site is subdivided into 100 square cells that can be possible turbine locations and as a result, the program presents us the optimal arrangement of the wind turbines in the wind park, based on the Monte Carlo simulation method. The results of this study are compared to the results of previous studies that handle the same issue.     

Integrated offshore wind farm design: Optimizing micro‐siting and cable layout simultaneously

Electrical layout and turbine placement are key design decisions in offshore wind farm projects. Increased turbine spacing minimizes the energy losses caused by wake interactions between turbines but requires costlier cables with higher rates of failure. Simultaneous micro‐siting and electrical layout optimization are required to realize all possible savings. The problem is complex, because electrical layout optimization is a combinatorial problem and the computational fluid‐dynamics calculations to approximate wake effects are impossible to integrate into classical optimization. This means that state‐of‐the‐art methods do not generally consider simultaneous optimization and resort to approximations instead. We extend an existing model that successfully optimizes cable design to simultaneously consider micro‐siting. We use Jensen's equations to approximate the wake effect in an efficient manner, calibrating it with years of mast data. The wake effects are precalculated and introduced into the optimization problem. We solve simultaneously for turbine spacing and cable layout, exploiting the tradeoffs between these wind farm features. We use the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm as a case study to demonstrate realizable savings up to 6 MEUR over the lifetime of the plant, although it is possible that unforeseen design constraints have implications for whether the savings seen in our model are fully realizable in the real world. In addition, the model provides insights on the effects of turbine spacing that can be used to simplify the design process or to support negotiations for surface concession at the earlier stages of a project.     

Coordinated control of series‐connected offshore wind park based on matrix converters

Optimization and reliability are two important aspects in design and operation of wind parks either for offshore as for onland emplacements. However, offshore locations demand conscientious effort in optimizing the size and the weight of each component in the energy conversion system because of the high investment and maintenance costs related with the supporting structures and transportation respectively. Achieving these two objectives requires the combination of different optimization stages, which consider a suitable design of the entire conversion system with innovative and more e?cient power electronic devices, optimized topology of the offshore grid and customized control strategies for optimizing the operation of the park. This paper presents an energy conversion concept for wind turbines on the basis of a reduced matrix converter (RMC) that will enable series direct current architecture in offshore wind parks thus preventing the need for offshore platforms. The RMC is built with bidirectional semiconductors that give reduced losses because of both superior topology and more e?cient semiconductors. The proposed conversion topology is tested in stationary state and transient operation. In addition to operational features of the concept, control and operation of a wind park with several turbines are presented. Dynamic operation of the turbine as well as the high‐voltage direct current transmission line effects are considered. Three types of models are therefore developed. First, an accurate and detailed model for analyzing one single turbine with the converter operated at high‐frequency switching is presented. This model considers a new modulation for the RMC. A second and simpli?ed model is used for small signal analysis. This model permits to simulate several series‐connected cluster during transient. Finally, an optimal direct current load ?ow model is used for evaluating stationary state operation. Results show the technical feasibility of the proposed concept and their advantages over conventional topologies. The paper also discusses the technological challenges that this type of offshore grid architecture will bring. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel control strategy approach to optimally design a wind farm layout

Recently wind energy has become one of the most important alternative energy sources and is growing at a rapid rate because of its renewability and abundancy. For the clustered wind turbines in a wind farm, significant wind power losses have been observed due to wake interactions of the air flow induced by the upstream turbines to the downstream turbines. One approach to reduce power losses caused by the wake interactions is through the optimization of wind farm layout, which determine the wind turbine positions and control strategy, which determine the wind turbine operations. In this paper, a new approach named simultaneous layout plus control optimization is developed. The effectiveness is studied by comparison to two other approaches (layout optimization and control optimization). The results of different optimizations, using both grid based and unrestricted coordinate wind farm design methods, are compared for both ideal and realistic wind conditions. Even though the simultaneous layout plus control optimization is theoretically superior to the others, it is prone to the local minima. Through the parametric study of crossover and mutation probabilities of the optimization algorithm, the results of the approach are generally satisfactory. For both simple and realistic wind conditions, the wind farm with the optimized control strategy yield 1–3 kW more power per turbine than that with the self-optimum control strategy, and the unrestricted coordinate method yield 1–2 kW more power per turbine than the grid based method.     

Optimal placement of wind turbines within a wind farm considering multi-directional wind speed using two-stage genetic algorithm

Most wind turbines within wind farms are set up to face a pre-determined wind direction. However, wind directions are intermittent in nature, leading to less electricity production capacity. This paper proposes an algorithm to solve the wind farm layout optimization problem considering multi-angular (MA) wind direction with the aim of maximizing the total power generated on wind farms and minimizing the cost of installation. A two-stage genetic algorithm (GA) equipped with complementary sampling and uniform crossover is used to evolve a MA layout that will yield optimal output regardless of the wind direction. In the first stage, the optimal wind turbine layouts for 8 different major wind directions were determined while the second stage allows each of the previously determined layouts to compete and inter-breed so as to evolve an optimal MA wind farm layout. The proposed MA wind farm layout is thereafter compared to other layouts whose turbines have focused site specific wind turbine orientation. The results reveal that the proposed wind farm layout improves wind power production capacity with minimum cost of installation compared to the layouts with site specific wind turbine layouts. This paper will find application at the planning stage of wind farm.     

Site‐specific Design Optimization of Wind Turbines

This article reports results from a European project, where site characteristics were incorporated into the design process of wind turbines, to enable site‐specific design. Two wind turbines of different concept were investigated at six different sites comprising normal flat terrain, offshore and complex terrain wind farms. Design tools based on numerical optimization and aeroelastic calculations were combined with a cost model to allow optimization for minimum cost of energy. Different scenarios were optimized ranging from modifications of selected individual components to the complete design of a new wind turbine. Both annual energy yield and design‐determining loads depended on site characteristics, and this represented a potential for site‐specific design. The maximum variation in annual energy yield was 37% and the maximum variation in blade root fatigue loads was 62%. Optimized site‐specific designs showed reductions in cost of energy by up to 15% achieved from an increase in annual energy yield and a reduction in manufacturing costs. The greatest benefits were found at sites with low mean wind speed and low turbulence. Site‐specific design was not able to offset the intrinsic economic advantage of high‐wind‐speed sites. It was not possible to design a single wind turbine for all wind climates investigated, since the differences in the design loads were too large. Multiple‐site wind turbines should be designed for generic wind conditions, which cover wind parameters encountered at flat terrain sites with a high mean wind speed. Site‐specific wind turbines should be designed for low‐mean‐wind‐speed sites and complex terrain. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

风力机三维尾流模型的提出与校核

针对大型风力机叶轮范围内风剪切效应突出以及当前工程尾流模型局限于二维空间而忽略垂直方向风速变化的问题,该文综合考虑风速和湍流强度切变效应对尾流的影响,在前期所发展的二维2D_K Jensen尾流模型的基础上,提出一种新型三维尾流模型。之后,新模型被应用于多种工况条件、多种类型的风力机尾流计算中,较为全面地验证其精度及适用性。通过与外场实测和其他高精度数值模拟的结果进行对比,表明新模型对流向、横风向和垂直向的尾流速度均具有良好的预测精度,将来可应用于大型风电场发电量评估和微观选址工作。     

Blade sections for wind turbine and tidal current turbine applications–current status and future challenges

The designers of horizontal axis wind turbines and tidal current turbines are increasingly focusing their attention on the design of blade sections appropriate for specific applications. In modern large wind turbines, the blade tip is designed using a thin airfoil for high lift : drag ratio, and the root region is designed using a thick version of the same airfoil for structural support. A high lift to drag ratio is a generally accepted requirement; however, although a reduction in the drag coefficient directly contributes to a higher aerodynamic efficiency, an increase in the lift coefficient does not have a significant contribution to the torque, as it is only a small component of lift that increases the tangential force while the larger component increases the thrust, necessitating an optimization. An airfoil with a curvature close to the leading edge that contributes more to the rotation will be a good choice; however, it is still a challenge to design such an airfoil. The design of special purpose airfoils started with LS and SERI airfoils, which are followed by many series of airfoils, including the new CAS airfoils. After nearly two decades of extensive research, a number of airfoils are available; however, majority of them are thick airfoils as the strength is still a major concern. Many of these still show deterioration in performance with leading edge contamination. Similarly, a change in the freestream turbulence level affects the performance of the blade. A number of active and passive flow control devices have been proposed and tested to improve the performance of blades/turbines. The structural requirements for tidal current turbines tend to lead to thicker sections, particularly near the root, which will cause a higher drag coefficient. A bigger challenge in the design of blades for these turbines is to avoid cavitation (which also leads to thicker sections) and still obtain an acceptably high lift coefficient. Another challenge for the designers is to design blades that give consistent output at varying flow conditions with a simple control system. The performance of a rotating blade may be significantly different from a non‐rotating blade, which requires that the design process should continue till the blade is tested under different operating conditions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the possibility of using different hub height wind turbines in a wind farm

Many researchers have focused on the layout design of a wind farm using the computational methods. Most of previous researches focused on relevant large cell size and using same hub height wind turbines. In this paper, the authors investigate the possibility of using different hub height wind turbines in a wind farm. A limited area (2?km?×?2?km) with constant wind speed and direction is considered as the potential wind farm area, and a nested genetic algorithm is used as optimisation algorithm. Two different hub height wind turbines are introduced with two different cell sizes. Power output, cost, payback period, and total profit are selected as evaluation criteria when comparing the layouts with same hub height wind turbines with the layouts with different hub height wind turbines. The results demonstrate that it is feasible and possible to use different hub height wind turbines in a wind farm.     

USST高性能水平轴风力机翼型族

结合层流翼型与钝尾缘的特性,通过Hicks-Henne型函数对翼型参数化修型,基于多岛遗传算法及Xfoil气动分析,针对大型水平轴风力机翼型进行多目标函数、多设计工况、多约束条件下的优化设计,得到适用于大型风力机的高性能翼型族（USST翼型族）。其升阻比在大多数攻角下均高于同厚度的FFA、DU系列等现有风力机翼型族,且在同样的升力系数下具有更大的升阻比。最后为考核优化设计得到的翼型族,采用数值模拟方法对优化结果进行验证,证明设计得到的新型风力机翼型族具有优越的气动性能。     

新型张力腿平台漂浮式风力机动态响应研究

未来海上风电场的建设需要大量动态响应低且相互干扰小的漂浮式风力机,为此研究一种尺寸更小,能减少或防止相互间干扰及安装费用更低的新型张力腿平台漂浮式风力机(TLP风力机),基于辐射/绕射理论并结合有限元方法,运用水动力学软件AQWA对其在不同海况下及不同系泊系统下的动态响应进行模拟研究,得到了频域和时域的动态响应数据。结果表明:频域分析中,新型张力腿平台漂浮式风力机的运动响应主要集中在低频区域,其中横荡、垂荡及纵摇的峰值频率分别为0.1、0.35和0.19 rad/s;TLP风力机垂荡和纵摇方向上的运动响应都小于Spar风力机运动响应;横荡、垂荡及纵摇方向上,TLP风力机附加质量均远大于辐射阻尼;时域分析中,4根张紧系泊设计优于单根张紧系泊设计,能有效降低横荡和纵摇运动响应和延长系泊绳的寿命;随着海况恶劣程度的加剧,TLP风力机的动态响应也随之增大。     

不同类型漂浮式风电场内机组塔基载荷研究

构建基于NREL 5 MW 风电机组的海上固定式风电场和不同类型的漂浮式风电场,考虑不同类型风电机组尾流特性、平台漂浮特性的差异,在不同工况下对风电场内机组动力学响应进行仿真计算。通过时域分析与箱线图分析,对风电场内各位置处机组在风、浪、尾流联合作用下的塔基载荷进行对比研究。结果表明：在相同工况下,Spar式风电场内机组风轮与平台位移值、塔基载荷在来流方向上最大;在中低风速下,风电场内机组塔基载荷相差较大;高风速时,塔基载荷相近;随着风速的增大,漂浮式机组塔基载荷呈先增大后减小的规律。     

Mitigating subsynchronous resonance and damping power system oscillation in a series compensated wind park using a novel static synchronous series compensator control algorithm

This paper presents a novel damping control algorithm for static synchronous series compensator (SSSC) in a series compensated wind park for mitigating subsynchronous resonance (SSR) and for damping power system oscillations. The sample test system, adapted from the IEEE first benchmark model on SSR replacing the synchronous generator, is employed aggregating wind park based self‐excited induction generator. Consequently, it investigates the SSR phenomena and the damping power system oscillation while integrating large wind park based on SEIG. The potential occurrence and mitigation of the SSR caused by induction generator effects as well as torsional interactions, in a series compensated wind park, are investigated. The auxiliary subsynchronous damping control loops for the SSSC based on a novel design procedure of non‐linear optimization are developed. The performance of the controller is tested in steady state operation and in response to system contingencies, taking into account the impact of short circuit ratios (SCRs). The simulation results are presented to demonstrate the capability of the controllers for mitigating the SSR, damping the power system oscillation and enhancing the transient stability margin in response to different SCRs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.