Explicit Solutions for Simple Models of Wind Turbine Interference

Abstract

Wind turbine interference - the reduction in output power of a turbine downwind of any others - is a major problem for wind farm optimization and control. With interference, it is well-known for specific cases that co-operative optimization of power output yields more power than does the selfish optimization of individual turbines. This paper develops explicit solutions for simple models of interference for the general case of any number of turbines in line with the wind. For the simplest case of no wake recovery, analytical solutions for co-operative and selfish optimization are derived. They show that co-operative optimization nearly always yields more power and never yields less. Adding a simple form of wake recovery for equally spaced turbines precludes analytical solutions, but numerical solutions are developed to find the power to any required level of accuracy. Again, co-operative optimization is superior in nearly all cases. These simple solutions should be useful for demonstrating the importance of interference and for testing methods for optimizing wind farm layout and operation. It is shown that the maximum benefit from co-operative operation occurs at turbine spacing comparable to that commonly used in wind farms. The analysis is then extended to include topographical effects modeled as changes in wind speed along the line. Explicit solutions are obtained for two turbines in line. Co-operative optimization remains the best strategy. In particular, when the wind speed increases, it quickly becomes optimal to shut down the first turbine.