Catch the wind: Optimizing wind turbine power generation by addressing wind veer effects.

Area of Science:

• Renewable Energy Engineering
• Atmospheric Science
• Control Systems

Background:

• Wind turbines (WTs) experience power losses due to wind veer, which is wind direction variability with height.
• Current WTs use single-point wind measurements, failing to account for veer and impacting efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel yaw control strategy that optimizes WT alignment under wind veer conditions.
• To enhance power generation efficiency and economic viability of wind farms.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a yaw control strategy using a yaw-bias-look-up table correlating yaw adjustments with wind speed and wind veer data.
• Conducted month-long field campaigns on a utility-scale WT and a research turbine, comparing performance against standard controls.
• Utilized LiDAR and meteorological towers for wind veer and profile data.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated notable energy gains, with potential net gains exceeding 10% during extreme wind veer conditions.
• Economic analysis indicates annual net gains up to ~$700K for a 100-MW wind farm with minimal investment.
• The strategy shows potential for greater gains in offshore settings with larger turbines.

Conclusions:

• The proposed yaw control strategy effectively mitigates power losses from wind veer.
• Advanced, cost-effective control strategies offer significant opportunities to improve WT performance in realistic atmospheric conditions.