Abstract
The performance of horizontal axis Wind Turbines (WTs) is strongly affected by the wind speed entering in their rotor. Generally, this quantity is not available, because the wind speed is measured on the nacelle behind the turbine rotor, providing a lower value. Therefore, two correction methods are usually employed, requiring two input quantities: the wind speed on the back of the turbine nacelle and the wind speed measured by a meteorological mast close to the turbines under analysis. However, the presence of this station in wind farms is rare and the number of WTs in the wind farm is high. This paper proposes an innovative correction, named “Statistical Method” (SM), that evaluates the efficiency of WTs by estimating the wind speed entering in the WTs rotor. This method relies on the manufacturer power curve and the data measured by the WT anemometer only, thus having the possibility to be also applied in wind farms without a meteorological station. The effectiveness of such a method is discussed by comparing the results obtained by the standard methods implemented on two turbines (rated power = 1.5 MW and 2.5 MW) of a wind power plant (nominal power = 80 MW) in Southern Italy.
Highlights
The increasing energy demand and the requirements of minimal environmental impact have pushed towards to a huge increase of Renewable Energy Sources (RES)
This method relies on the manufacturer power curve and the data measured by the Wind Turbines (WTs) anemometer only, having the possibility to be employed in wind farms without a meteorological station
The electrical power measurements Pout obtained at the output of the WT are shown in Figure 3 with respect to the measured wind speed, which is corrected according to equation (1)
Summary
The increasing energy demand and the requirements of minimal environmental impact have pushed towards to a huge increase of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Among the RES, Wind Turbines (WTs) represent a reliable and clean source of electricity with low marginal costs [3]. New wind power plants have been installed in Europe in 2020, with a cumulative rated power of about 7 GW, and an increase of about 10 GW is expected in 2021, reaching a cumulative capacity of about 250 GW [4] In this framework, offshore applications will represent about 20 % of new installations in the period 2020-2023, especially in the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and France. The anemometer is usually located on the back of the turbine, where a wind speed that is lower than the wind speed entering in the rotor is measured For this reason, the use of the measurement of this anemometer leads WTs to exhibit experimental performance that seems better than their nameplate specification, since the manufacturer states the power curve with reference to the wind speed at the entrance of the rotor.
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