Active Yaw Control for Increased Windfarm Production

In the near future, the growth of the renewable energy production in Sweden is expected to mainly rely on the increasing size and efficiency of wind turbines. However, the wakes (volumes of slower and turbulent wind) behind the turbines in a wind farm result in production losses for the downstream turbines by up to 20%. This effect can be mitigated using an active yaw control, by deflecting the wake propagation away from the other turbines, hence increasing the total production.

This project will utilize the novel and open-source software FAST.Farm that can efficiently simulate all relevant physics of each turbine as well as the wake effects throughout the wind farm. A wind farm control strategy will be developed which incorporates an active yaw control algorithm, as an open-source deliverable of the project. This algorithm will be tested and evaluated towards production optimization for different ambient wind conditions while taking the fatigue loads into account.