U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Field Validation of Wake Steering Control with Wind Direction Variability: Preprint
Abstract
Wake steering is a type of wind farm control strategy wherein upstream turbines are misaligned with the wind direction to redirect their wakes away from downstream turbines, increasing overall wind plant power. Wake steering is often analyzed assuming steady mean wind directions across the wind farm. However, in practice, the wind direction varies considerably over time because of large-scale weather phenomena. Wind direction variability causes wake steering controllers to increase power production less than predicted by steady state models, but more robust wake steering strategies can be designed that account for variable wind conditions. This paper compares the achieved yaw offsets and power gains from two 2-turbine wake steering experiments at a commercial wind farm with model predictions using the FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State (FLORIS) control-oriented model, assuming both fixed and variable wind directions. The impact of wind direction variability is modeled by including wind direction and yaw uncertainty in the FLORIS calculations. The field results match the trends predicted assuming wind direction variability. Specifically, the yaw offsets achieved in the intended control regions are lower than desired, resulting in less power gain, while a slight loss in power occurs for wind directions outside of the intendedmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1599567
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-5000-74808
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at NAWEA/WindTech 2019, 14-16 October 2019, Amherst, Massachusetts
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 17 WIND ENERGY; wake steering; wind plant control; wind direction variability; uncertainty
Citation Formats
Simley, Eric J, Fleming, Paul A, and King, Jennifer R. Field Validation of Wake Steering Control with Wind Direction Variability: Preprint. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web.
Simley, Eric J, Fleming, Paul A, & King, Jennifer R. Field Validation of Wake Steering Control with Wind Direction Variability: Preprint. United States.
Simley, Eric J, Fleming, Paul A, and King, Jennifer R. 2020.
"Field Validation of Wake Steering Control with Wind Direction Variability: Preprint". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1599567.
@article{osti_1599567,
title = {Field Validation of Wake Steering Control with Wind Direction Variability: Preprint},
author = {Simley, Eric J and Fleming, Paul A and King, Jennifer R},
abstractNote = {Wake steering is a type of wind farm control strategy wherein upstream turbines are misaligned with the wind direction to redirect their wakes away from downstream turbines, increasing overall wind plant power. Wake steering is often analyzed assuming steady mean wind directions across the wind farm. However, in practice, the wind direction varies considerably over time because of large-scale weather phenomena. Wind direction variability causes wake steering controllers to increase power production less than predicted by steady state models, but more robust wake steering strategies can be designed that account for variable wind conditions. This paper compares the achieved yaw offsets and power gains from two 2-turbine wake steering experiments at a commercial wind farm with model predictions using the FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State (FLORIS) control-oriented model, assuming both fixed and variable wind directions. The impact of wind direction variability is modeled by including wind direction and yaw uncertainty in the FLORIS calculations. The field results match the trends predicted assuming wind direction variability. Specifically, the yaw offsets achieved in the intended control regions are lower than desired, resulting in less power gain, while a slight loss in power occurs for wind directions outside of the intended control region because of unintentional yaw misalignment. The agreement between the model and field results suggests that the wind direction variability model can be used to design wake steering controllers that are more robust to variable wind conditions present in the field.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1599567},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {2}
}