Combining wake redirection and derating strategies in a load-constrained wind farm power maximization

Abstract

Power derating and wake redirection are two wind farm control techniques proposed in the last decade as means for increasing the overall wind farm power output. While derating operations are associated with a limited gain in terms of farm energy harvesting and with a decrease in turbine loading levels, farm controls based on wake redirection proved, both in silico and experimental tests, to entail significant increases in the overall wind farm power output. However, according to wake redirection strategies, the upstream wind turbines may typically operate at large yaw misalignment angles, and the possible increase in loads that the machines may experience in such conditions represents a source of concern when it comes to testing this control on existing farms that are not specifically designed for prolonged misaligned operations. In this work, it is first demonstrated that a suitable derating level can compensate for the increase in the rotor loads associated with large misalignment angles. Secondarily, two load-constrained wind farm controls based on a combination of wake redirection and derating are proposed with the aim of maximizing the overall farm output while maintaining unaltered design load envelope of the wind turbines operating within the controlled wind farm.