Field test of wake steering at an offshore wind farm

TLDR

The field test was conducted through a collaboration between NREL and Envision Energy, a smart energy management company and turbine manufacturer. The paper presents a field test of wake‑steering control. The campaign modified the yaw controllers of turbines in a commercial offshore wind farm in China to implement wake steering based on a strategy developed with NREL wind farm models, including SOWFA for wake dynamics and FLORIS for yaw control optimization. The wake‑steering controller increased power capture by amounts similar to model predictions. Abstract.

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper, a field test of wake-steering control is presented. The field test is the result of a collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Envision Energy, a smart energy management company and turbine manufacturer. In the campaign, an array of turbines within an operating commercial offshore wind farm in China have the normal yaw controller modified to implement wake steering according to a yaw control strategy. The strategy was designed using NREL wind farm models, including a computational fluid dynamics model, Simulator fOr Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA), for understanding wake dynamics and an engineering model, FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State (FLORIS), for yaw control optimization. Results indicate that, within the certainty afforded by the data, the wake-steering controller was successful in increasing power capture, by amounts similar to those predicted from the models.