Quantifying the benefits of a slender, high tip speed blade for large offshore wind turbiness

Abstract

An in-depth study has been completed to study the effects of slender, flexible blades in combination with high rotor speed operation on load mitigation, targeted at cost reductions of the structural components of large wind turbines, consequently lowering the levelized cost of energy. An overview of existing theory of sensitivity of turbine fatigue loading to the blade chord and rotor speed was created, and this was supplemented by a proposed theory for aboverated operation including the pitch controller. A baseline jacket-supported offshore turbine (7 MW) was defined, of which the blade was then redesigned to be more slender and flexible, at the same time increasing rotor speed. The blade redesign and optimisation process was guided by cost of energy assessments using a reduced loadset. Thereafter, a full loadset conform IEC61400-3 was calculated for both turbines. The expected support structure load reductions were affirmed, and it was shown that reductions of up to 18.5% are possible for critical load components. Cost modelling indicated that turbine and support structure CapEx could be reduced by 6%. Despite an energy production reduction of 0.44% related to the thicker airfoils used, the blade redesign led to a reduction in Cost of Energy.