A Method for Yaw Error Alignment of Wind Turbine Based on LiDAR

Yaw control is an important part of the control system of a horizontal shaft wind turbine. After the installation of the wind turbine, the turbulence influence of the wind turbine blades and the azimuth of the wind turbine will cause yaw error which directly affects the economic and the safety of the wind turbine. This article introduces a method for aligning the yaw error of a wind turbine mounted with a LiDAR anemometer, in which the power and the yaw azimuth of the wind turbine, recorded by a SCADA system, are divided into 22 power segments and 12 yaw azimuth sectors respectively. Combining the yaw error angles measured by the LiDAR, a 3D table of yaw error angles is prepared based on the power segments and yaw azimuth sectors of the wind turbine. Using the table of the yaw error angles, the wind turbine yaw error is aligned for capturing the maximum wind energy. According to the analysis of the data measured on-site, the proposed method is found effective in improving the AEP of the aligned wind turbine. Furthermore, taking the alignment of yaw error in a 48.6MW wind farm as an example, the economy and feasibility of the proposed method are analyzed.