Towards closed-loop dynamical wind farm control: model development and control applications

Electricity consumption is increasing on a global level. In 2017, non-renewable energy sources such as crude oil, natural gas and coal provided 76% of the required energy, while 24% came from renewable sources such as hydro, wind and solar. Non-renewable sources are finite because they do not replenish rapidly enough relative to the rate at...

A constrained wind farm controller providing secondary frequency regulation: An LES study

Active power control for wind farms is needed to provide ancillary services. One of these services is to track a power reference signal with a wind farm by dynamically de- and uprating the turbines. In this paper we present a closed-loop wind farm controller that evaluates 1) thrust coefficients on a seconds-scale that provide power tracking...

Stochastic model predictive control: Uncertainty impact on wind farm power tracking

Active power control for wind farms is needed to provide ancillary services. One of these services is to track a power reference signal with a wind farm by dynamically de- and uprating the turbines. Due to the stochastic nature of the wind, it is necessary to take this stochastic behavior into account when evaluating control signals. In this...

A control-oriented dynamic wind farm model: WFSim

Wind turbines are often sited together in wind farms as it is economically advantageous. Controlling the flow within wind farms to reduce the fatigue loads, maximize energy production and provide ancillary services is a challenging control problem due to the underlying time-varying non-linear wake dynamics. In this paper, we present a control...

Joint state-parameter estimation for a control-oriented LES wind farm model

Wind farm control research typically relies on computationally inexpensive, surrogate models for real-time optimization. However, due to the large time delays involved, changing atmospheric conditions and tough-to-model flow and turbine dynamics, these surrogate models need constant calibration. In this paper, a novel real-time (joint state...

A model predictive wind farm controller with linear parameter-varying models

In this paper, we present an implementation of a model predictive controller (MPC) for wind farm power tracking problem. The controller is evaluated in the high-fidelity PAral-lelized Large-eddy simulation Model (PALM). By taking measurements from PALM, we show that the closed-loop MPC can provide power reference tracking while reducing force...

A constrained model predictive wind farm controller providing active power control: An LES study

The objective of active power control in wind farms is to provide ancillary grid services. Improving this is vital for a smooth wind energy penetration in the energy market. One of these services is to track a power reference signal with a wind farm by dynamically de- and uprating the turbines. In this paper we present a computationally...

Lidar-based closed-loop wake redirection in high-fidelity simulation

This work presents the next step in realizing lidar-based closed-loop wake redirection control. Lidar-based closed-loop wake redirection aims at repositioning the wake at a desired position by yawing the wind turbine. The actual wake deflection is derived from lidar measurements and used in a closed-loop control scheme. Compared to an open...

Online model calibration for a simplified LES model in pursuit of real-time closed-loop wind farm control

Wind farm control often relies on computationally inexpensive surrogate models to predict the dynamics inside a farm. However, the reliability of these models over the spectrum of wind farm operation remains questionable due to the many uncertainties in the atmospheric conditions and tough-to-model dynamics at a range of spatial and temporal...

Dynamic flow model for real-time application in wind farm control

For short-term power predictions and estimations of the available power during curtailment of a wind farm, it is necessary to consider the flow dynamics and aerodynamic interactions of the turbines. In this paper, a control-oriented dynamic two-dimensional wind farm model is introduced that aims to incorporate real-time measurements such as...

Adjoint-based model predictive control of wind farms: Beyond the quasi steady-state power maximization

In this paper, we extend our closed-loop optimal control framework for wind farms to minimize wake-induced power losses. We develop an adjoint-based model predictive controller which employs a medium-fidelity 2D dynamic wind farm model. The wind turbine axial induction factors are considered here as the control inputs to influence the overall...

Robust lidar-based closed-loop wake redirection for wind farm control

Wind turbine wake redirection is a promising concept for wind farm control to increase the total power of a wind farm. Further, the concept aims to avoid partial wake overlap on a downwind wind turbine and hence aims to decrease structural loads. Controller for wake redirection need to account for model uncertainties due to the complexity of...

A predictive control framework for optimal energy extraction of wind farms

This paper proposes an adjoint-based model predictive control for optimal energy extraction of wind farms. It employs the axial induction factor of wind turbines to influence their aerodynamic interactions through the wake. The performance index is defined here as the total power production of the wind farm over a finite prediction horizon. A...

A control-oriented dynamic wind farm flow model: "WFSim"

In this paper, we present and extend the dynamic medium fidelity control-oriented Wind Farm Simulator (WFSim) model. WFSim resolves flow fields in wind farms in a horizontal, two dimensional plane. It is based on the spatially and temporally discretised two dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and the continuity equation and solves for a...

Enhanced Kalman filtering for a 2D CFD NS wind farm flow model

Wind turbines are often grouped together for financial reasons, but due to wake development this usually results in decreased turbine lifetimes and power capture, and thereby an increased levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Wind farm control aims to minimize this cost by operating turbines at their optimal control settings. Most state-of-the-art...