Keynote presentation — 1: Optimal operation of large wind turbine arrays through farmlevel control

Abstract

With the development of large offshore wind farms and attainment of high wind power penetration, it is no longer satisfactory for wind farms to be passive providers of generated power. Instead, offshore wind farms must become virtual generation plant that behave similarly to conventional generation. The power must be adjusted as required by the operators. To do so, requires flexible operation of the individual turbines and a wind farm controller to match power output to demand. In addition to adjusting the power output, the wind farm controller could enable the wind farm to provide ancillary services such as curtailment, frequency support, voltage support, etc. Furthermore, there is extensive information regarding the local environment and conditions, including SCADA information, environmental information (wind direction, time of year, sea state etc., maintenance and repair logs information, wind farm layout information, condition monitoring and turbine health information) as well as individual wind turbine control information from nearby turbines. The potential to exploit this information through the wind farm controller to enable operators to make the most of their assets is substantial. In its most sophisticated form, the wind farm controller could control the operation of the individual wind turbines to achieve the most effective short and long term operation of all the assets in the wind farm. Accordingly, the general objectives for the wind farm controller is to maximise wind farm generated power, provide ancillary services, including curtailment, frequency support and voltage support, and minimise O&M costs. An approach to wind farm control, that is hierarchical, decentralise and scalable, is presented.