The Wind farm Control joint industry project involves most of the leading players in the wind energy sector. It aims to demonstrate the reliability of models and procedures used for controlling individual turbines in a wind farm in a way that optimizes the farm’s total output.
Wind farms typically have limited space, so determining the positioning of individual turbines to maximize energy yield is a key element. Furthermore, each operating turbine will produce a wake that can impact on other down-stream turbines reducing their output.
Operational controls that can optimize the output of entire wind farms rather than individual turbines are needed. There is a need for sharing best practices amongst all industry players to further increase the efficiency of wind power plants.
Also, developing a bankable wind farm control system for new projects will require validation of wind farm control model implementation in operating wind farms.
Innovative wind farm control technology
The joint industry project (JIP) brings together wind farm owners and operators, turbine manufacturers, as well as other sector experts, to demonstrate the value in innovative wind farm control technology.
Successful design and implementation of wind farm control require accurate, analytical techniques and models and their validation against experimental data. The industry has already started to implement and test wind farm control techniques, but participation in the JIP can help in accelerating the demonstration of bankability and scale-up.
Wind farm control covers the models and procedures required to control each turbine in a wind farm through approaches such as wake steering and induction control, in a way that optimizes the wind farm’s total output or overall performance. Although the output of an individual turbine may be decreased, the lessened impact on other turbines means that overall output of the wind farm is actually increased.
The benefits
Wind farm control technology has the potential to optimize wind farm performance and bring increased revenue to farm operators.
The novel technique enables operators to extract additional energy and potentially optimize loading across turbines and allows them to claw back some of the wake losses that reduce energy yield.
Wind farm control technology could also reduce operational turbine loading and extend the life of turbines.
Including the potential gain in output from wind farm control in project finance proposals could also encourage investment.
Market potential
Although the benefits from wind farm control can be shared by all players in the sector, the JIP brings together parties that are typically competitors with the aim of advancing the entire wind industry and accelerating the green energy transition.
