Optimization of the wind farm energy capture by minimizing the wake effects

This paper analyses, from a steady state point of view, the potential benefit of a wind farm control strategy whose main objective is to maximize its total energy yield over its lifetime. Unlike the conventional approach in which each wind turbine operation is optimized individually to maximize its own energy capture, the proposed control strategy aims to optimize the whole system by operating some wind turbines at suboptimum points, so that the wake effect within the wind farm is reduced and therefore the total power generation is maximized. The methodology used to assess the performance of both control approaches is presented and applied to a particular study case consisting of three wind turbines. The paper contains a comprehensive wake model considering single, partial and multiple wake effects. The study also takes into account the Blade element theory and actuator disc theory to accurately compute both power and thrust coefficient of each wind turbine. The results suggest a good potential of the proposed concept, since an increase in the annual energy captured by the wind farm from 0.3% up to 3.7% may be achieved (depending on the wind rose at the wind farm location).