Abstract
This study analyzed the performance decline of wind turbine with age using the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) data and the short-term in situ LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measurements taken at the Shinan wind farm located on the coast of Bigeumdo Island in the southwestern sea of South Korea. Existing methods have generally attempted to estimate performance aging through long-term trend analysis of a normalized capacity factor in which wind speed variability is calibrated. However, this study proposes a new method using SCADA data for wind farms whose total operation period is short (less than a decade). That is, the trend of power output deficit between predicted and actual power generation was analyzed in order to estimate performance aging, wherein a theoretically predicted level of power generation was calculated by substituting a free stream wind speed projecting to a wind turbine into its power curve. To calibrate a distorted wind speed measurement in a nacelle anemometer caused by the wake effect resulting from the rotation of wind-turbine blades and the shape of the nacelle, the free stream wind speed was measured using LiDAR remote sensing as the reference data; and the nacelle transfer function, which converts nacelle wind speed into free stream wind speed, was derived. A four-year analysis of the Shinan wind farm showed that the rate of performance aging of the wind turbines was estimated to be −0.52%p/year.
Highlights
According to IEC 61400-1, which explains the design condition of wind turbines, the design life-span of wind turbines should be more than twenty years [1]
The difference between predicted and actual power generation using SCADA data, which is a monthly average of power output deficit, was calculated, and the rate of performance aging was estimated using a trend analysis
The trend analysis of power output deficit at the Shinan wind farm over 4 years showed that the rate of performance aging was –0.52%p per year, and that it progressed linearly
Summary
According to IEC 61400-1, which explains the design condition of wind turbines, the design life-span of wind turbines should be more than twenty years [1]. According to the results of another study on thirty years of operational records of 3200 wind turbines in Denmark [4], the rate of reduction of their capacity was calculated to be −0.32%p (percent point) per year, but the report did not specify whether this rate was due purely to a deterioration of the wind turbines or to variations in the annual wind resources. The results of an analysis of wind farms located in Ontario, Canada, for five years [5] showed that if the annual wind speed change is calibrated every year, the rate of reduction of their capacity was −1.0%p per year, which is a much higher rate than that reported in Denmark. The estimation by Hughes (2012) [3] and that by Staffell and
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