Optimizing a wind farm layout considering access roads

Abstract

Considering building a wind farm, a quarter of the initial investment cost is accounted for planning, construction, and project preparation. Some of those expenses can be reduced within the project concept phase. The wind farm layout is one of the common aspects being optimized.Commonly, wind turbines are placed such that wake losses are minimal. However, this might lead to long access roads. The cost of a gravel road is estimated to be 75 €/m. In this paper, an optimization problem considering access roads is developed.Two methods are investigated to determine the influence of the access roads on a wind farm layout optimization. A case study with seven wind turbines is set up. The layout is optimized such that the LCOE is minimal. One method examines a wind farm with nearby existing roads. This method results in a reduction of road costs by 9 000€ while the AEP suffers a loss of 0.134 %. The second method neglects existing roads and develops a new access road network. Comparing an optimized wind farm layout without considering the access roads to an optimization that included the access leads to 22 000 € fewer road investment costs and a loss of AEP of 0.238 %. Those changes seem marginal but indicate a possible gain for large scale wind farms.