Optimization of Wind Turbine Array Performance in Offshore Wind Farms

An improved program of previous optimization work is put forward for analyzing and optimizing the spatial configurations of wind turbines in offshore wind arrays. It applies Ainslie’s wake model in which the wake profile is dependent on wind speed, turbulence intensities and the turbine’s thrust coefficient. Models of single wakes and multiple wakes are employed. Weibull distributions and turbulence intensities of wind are applied. A real wind turbine power curve is used to estimate power out of the turbines. The annual power output of the wind array for the North Sea’s Horns Rev wind array is evaluated and compared with the optimization results. Disagreement is observed between the simulated results using different angular discretizations of the possible wind directional probabilities. An analysis and possible explanation are discussed.Copyright © 2012 by ASME