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Title: Wind turbine power production and annual energy production depend on atmospheric stability and turbulence

Journal Article · · Wind Energy Science (Online)
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC)
  2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  4. V-Bar, LLC, Golden, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Using detailed upwind and nacelle-based measurements from a General Electric (GE) 1.5sle model with a 77 m rotor diameter, we calculate power curves and annual energy production (AEP) and explore their sensitivity to different atmospheric parameters to provide guidelines for the use of stability and turbulence filters in segregating power curves. The wind measurements upwind of the turbine include anemometers mounted on a 135 m meteorological tower as well as profiles from a lidar. We calculate power curves for different regimes based on turbulence parameters such as turbulence intensity (TI) as well as atmospheric stability parameters such as the bulk Richardson number (RB). We also calculate AEP with and without these atmospheric filters and highlight differences between the results of these calculations. The power curves for different TI regimes reveal that increased TI undermines power production at wind speeds near rated, but TI increases power production at lower wind speeds at this site, the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). Similarly, power curves for different RB regimes reveal that periods of stable conditions produce more power at wind speeds near rated and periods of unstable conditions produce more power at lower wind speeds. AEP results suggest that calculations without filtering for these atmospheric regimes may overestimate the AEP. Because of statistically significant differences between power curves and AEP calculated with these turbulence and stability filters for this turbine at this site, we suggest implementing an additional step in analyzing power performance data to incorporate effects of atmospheric stability and turbulence across the rotor disk.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1324230
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5D00-66360
Journal Information:
Wind Energy Science (Online), Vol. 1, Issue 2; ISSN 2366-7451
Publisher:
European Wind Energy Association - CopernicusCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Benchmarks for Model Validation based on LiDAR Wake Measurements journal July 2019
Using field data–based large eddy simulation to understand role of atmospheric stability on energy production of wind turbines journal January 2019
Modeling of the atmospheric boundary layer under stability stratification for wind turbine wake production journal October 2019
Modified Power Curves for Prediction of Power Output of Wind Farms journal May 2019
An Induction Curve Model for Prediction of Power Output of Wind Turbines in Complex Conditions journal February 2020
Characterization of Turbulence in Wind Turbine Wakes under Different Stability Conditions from Static Doppler LiDAR Measurements journal March 2017
Atmospheric turbulence affects wind turbine nacelle transfer functions posted_content December 2016
Free-flow wind speed from a blade-mounted flow sensor journal January 2018
More accurate aeroelastic wind-turbine load simulations using detailed inflow information journal January 2019
The effect of wind direction shear on turbine performance in a wind farm in central Iowa journal January 2020
Atmospheric turbulence affects wind turbine nacelle transfer functions journal January 2017

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17 WIND ENERGY
wind energy
power curve
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turbulence intensity
annual energy production