An Analytical Framework for Offshore Wind Farm Layout Optimization

Abstract

A method is developed for using the levelized cost of energy as the objective function for offshore wind farm layout optimization problems. The method converts the cost of energy into a function of turbine position only. To accomplish this, wind speed data are first characterized by direction sector. Continuous functions are then fitted to the Weibull parameters for each direction sector. The wind direction probability density function and the turbine power curve are also transformed into continuous functions. For each turbine in the farm, the continuous function that describes the Weibull scale parameter can be scaled to reflect wake losses from other turbines. The function may also be adjusted according to the variation in wind speed with fetch. The annual energy production of the farm is thus modeled as a function only of the turbine positions. When combined with wind farm cost estimates, the levelized cost of energy is still only a function of turbine position and can then be used as an objective function within a variety of optimization algorithms.