Quantification of power losses due to wind turbine wake interactions through SCADA, meteorological and wind LiDAR data

Abstract

AbstractPower production of an onshore wind farm is investigated through supervisory control and data acquisition data, while the wind field is monitored through scanning light detection and ranging measurements and meteorological data acquired from a met‐tower located in proximity to the turbine array. The power production of each turbine is analysed as functions of the operating region of the power curve, wind direction and atmospheric stability. Five different methods are used to estimate the potential wind power as a function of time, enabling an estimation of power losses connected with wake interactions. The most robust method from a statistical standpoint is that based on the evaluation of a reference wind velocity at hub height and experimental mean power curves calculated for each turbine and different atmospheric stability regimes. The synergistic analysis of these various datasets shows that power losses are significant for wind velocities higher than cut‐in wind speed and lower than rated wind speed of the turbines. Furthermore, power losses are larger under stable atmospheric conditions than for convective regimes, which is a consequence of the stability‐driven variability in wake evolution. Light detection and ranging measurements confirm that wind turbine wakes recover faster under convective regimes, thus alleviating detrimental effects due to wake interactions. For the wind farm under examination, power loss due to wake shadowing effects is estimated to be about 4% and 2% of the total power production when operating under stable and convective conditions, respectively. However, cases with power losses about 60‐80% of the potential power are systematically observed for specific wind turbines and wind directions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.