Awakening awareness with measurements
Flow of wind through the wind farm impacts the performance of turbines located downstream. That is a straightforward thought shared by many in the industry. How much? Well, that is another story. Describing and quantifying the expected impact on performance requires a case-by-case analysis. In the next paragraphs, we share with you our experience from looking at actual SCADA measurements.
First, let’s go back to basics.
The impact depends on the wake strength (1), the relative position of wake center (2) and its width (3). Each of them is shown from left to right below.
Let’s look at data of two turbines when they are aligned in main wind direction (here: 128°).
In (1), we can see that wake strength implies 30% wind speed reduction and more than 60% electrical power loss. In (2), we find the wake center a few degrees away from the expected position when looking at the layout and main wind direction. Finally, in (3), we assume as relevant all power losses above 10% and find 26° as the wake width of interest to optimize on.
Contact us to define what relevant electrical power losses are associated with the difference between expected and real wake center in your wind farm. Together we will find next steps for your case!
And we only focused on power losses! We will look at mechanical loading in our next entry.
Are you interested in more information about wake effects? Feel free to contact us!