A study by the Wind Energy Institute at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has used wind lidars originating from ZephIR Lidar to demonstrate the possibilities that total wind farm control offers the industry. Wakes were deflected along a line of wind turbines resulting in an increase of 15% actual power output from the combined wind farm production.
The demonstration consisted of 3 turbines and, by yawing two of the upwind turbines to laterally deflect their wakes, the rearmost turbine was able to increase production leading to a net 15% gain in power across the ‘wind farm’. The lidars, provided by Danish Technical University (DTU) Wind Energy, measured the wind speed across the full flow field of the experiment, providing a clear visualisation of the deflected wakes and reduced interferences among the wind turbines. Total wind farm control looks at the most effective method of turbine operation to benefit the overall production output from the site, rather than on an individual turbine-by-turbine basis. One key cause of overall site underproduction can be the wakes affecting all turbines downwind of the leading edge of the wind farm. The wake effects build and propagate through the wind farm with the potential for those turbines sited at the very back of the wind farm to be heavily limited in output.
