Multi-Objective Optimization for Determining Trade-Off between Output Power and Power Fluctuations in Wind Farm System

Abstract

In this paper, a multi-objective optimization method is proposed to determine trade-off between conflicting operation objectives of wind farm (WF) systems, i.e., maximizing the output power and minimizing the output power fluctuation of the WF system. A detailed analysis of the effects of different objective’s weight values and battery size on the operation of the WF system is also carried out. This helps the WF operator to decide on an optimal operation point for the whole system to increase its profit and improve output power quality. In order to find out the optimal solution, a two-stage optimization is also developed to determine the optimal output power of the entire system as well as the optimal set-points of wind turbine generators (WTGs). In stage 1, the WF operator performs multi-objective optimization to determine the optimal output power of the WF system based on the relevant information from WTGs’ and battery’s controllers. In stage 2, the WF operator performs optimization to determine the optimal set-points of WTGs for minimizing the power deviation and fulfilling the required output power from the previous stage. The minimization of the power deviation for the set-points of WTGs helps the output power of WTGs much smoother and therefore avoids unnecessary internal power fluctuations. Finally, different case studies are also analyzed to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.