The size growth of modern wind turbines creates challenges in their control system design, particularly due to greater wind variability across larger rotor areas. As modern turbine control systems rely on the availability of accurate wind speed information, the increasing unrepresentativeness of pointwise measurement devices, such as anemometers, necessitates the incorporation of more representative rotor-effective wind speed (REWS) estimation. Classical REWS estimators, based on static power relations, often fail to account for dynamic changes, leading to inaccurate estimation. To overcome these challenges, this paper introduces a power-balance-based REWS estimation framework and splits the estimation problem into two modules: an aerodynamic power estimator and a wind speed estimate solver. Two possible aerodynamic power estimation techniques are discussed based on numerical derivative and state estimation. As state estimator calibration remained a challenge for varying wind turbine sizes, a gain-tailoring method for the performance calibration throughout a range of modern wind turbine sizes has been derived for the state-estimation-based aerodynamic power estimator. Two types of wind speed estimate solvers are analyzed, namely the continuous and iterative single-step methods. From the two modules, the best-performing methods – the state estimation aerodynamic power estimator and iterative single-step wind speed solver – are chosen to form the optimal power balance REWS estimator. The combined optimal estimator is validated through OpenFAST simulations of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW and IEA 22 MW turbines and compared against a baseline method. The proposed method demonstrates good tracking of the REWS, better noise resilience, and convenient estimator gain calibration across different turbine sizes.

Many systems are subject to periodic disturbances and exhibit repetitive behaviour. Model-based repetitive control employs knowledge of such periodicity to attenuate periodic disturbances and has seen a wide range of successful industrial implementations. The aim of this paper is to develop a data-driven repetitive control method. In the developed framework, linear periodically time-varying (LPTV) behaviour is lifted to linear time-invariant (LTI) behaviour. Periodic disturbance mitigation is enabled by developing an extension of Willems’ fundamental lemma for systems with exogenous disturbances. The resulting Data-enabled Predictive Repetitive Control (DeePRC) technique accounts for periodic system behaviour to perform attenuation of a periodic disturbance. Simulations demonstrate the ability of DeePRC to effectively mitigate periodic disturbances in the presence of noise.

Individual pitch control (IPC) is a technique used to reduce periodic blade loads in wind turbines. It generally uses the multiblade coordinate transformation to convert blade load measurements from a rotating frame into a two-axes non-rotating frame. Although these non-rotating axes are assumed to be decoupled, studies reveal persistent interactions. Reducing this coupling, such as by introducing an azimuth offset, enhances IPC performance. This study explores the impact of static inverted decoupling, which decouples the process in the steady state, on IPC performance. The proposed IPCs are adaptive, scheduling controller and decoupling gains based on operational conditions. In such IPC designs, the integral gains of the diagonal controllers and the decoupling elements can either be the same or different. These methods were validated on a simulated 15 MW wind turbine. Controller parameter optimization was accomplished through genetic algorithms to minimize blade fatigue loads, measured via the damage equivalent load (DEL). Results indicate that incorporating static inverted decoupling into IPC improves blade load reduction without increasing pitch actuator effort. IPCs with similar integral gains and matching absolute values in decoupling elements achieved the best balance between DEL reduction and complexity with minimal actuator effort, while additional optimization parameters provided negligible improvements.

Large-scale wind turbines offer higher power output but present design challenges as increased blade flexibility affects aerodynamic performance and loading under varying conditions. Although flexible structures are considered in terms of (periodic) load control and aerodynamic stability, the impact of flexibility on the aerodynamic response of the blades is currently not fully addressed in conventional control strategies. The current state-of-the-art control strategy is the tip-speed ratio tracking scheme, which aims to maximise power production in the partial-load region by maintaining a constant ratio between blade velocity and wind speed. However, this approach fails under large deformations, where the deflection and structural twist of the blade impact aerodynamic performance. This work aims to redefine the state-of-the-art wind turbine control with the COntrol scheme for FLEXible wind turbines (COFLEX): a novel feedforward–feedback control scheme that leverages optimal operational set points computed by COFLEXOpt, which is a set point optimiser considering the effects of blade deformations on aerodynamic performance and turbine loading. The proposed combined strategy consists of two key modules. The first module, COFLEXOpt, is an optimisation framework that provides controller set points while allowing constraints to be imposed on various operational, structural, and load properties, such as blade deflection and other structural loads. Set points obtained using COFLEXOpt are agnostic to operating regions, meaning that the operating region boundaries are optimised rather than prescribed. The second module is a feedforward–feedback controller and uses the set point mappings generated with COFLEXOpt, scheduled on wind speed estimates, to evaluate feedforward inputs and feedback to correct modelling inaccuracies and ensure closed-loop stability. A set point smoothing technique enables smooth transitions from partial- to full-load operations. The IEA 15 MW turbine is used as an exemplary case to show the effectiveness of COFLEX in maximising rotor aerodynamic efficiency while imposing blade out-of-plane tip displacement constraints. An analysis of the steady-state optimisation results shows that accounting for blade flexibility leads to variable optimal tip-speed ratio operating points in the partial-load region, and the collective pitch angle can be used to counteract blade torsion, maximising power coefficient while complying with imposed constraints. The established controller, tailored to track these optimised set points and operating points, was evaluated through time-marching mid-fidelity HAWC2 simulations across the entire operational range of the IEA 15 MW reference wind turbine (RWT). These simulations, performed under uniform and turbulent wind inflows, demonstrate excellent agreement between optimised steady states and median values obtained from HAWC2 simulations. Furthermore, the generator power shows an increase of up to 5 % in the partial-load region compared to the reference scheme while maintaining blade deflection at a similar level.

In order to mitigate periodic blade loads in wind turbines, recent research has analyzed different Individual Pitch Control (IPC) approaches, which typically use the multi-blade coordinate (MBC) transformation. Some of these studies show that the introduction of an additional tuning parameter in the MBC, namely the azimuth offset, helps to decouple the nonrotating axes in the MBC transformation and enhances the IPC performance. However, these improvements have been studied without considering the increased control effort performed by the pitch signal, which is the main negative side effect of the IPC. This work addresses this trade-off between pitch signal effort and blade fatigue reduction for IPC applied to a wind turbine operating in the full load region. Here, two IPC schemes, with and without additional azimuth offset, are designed and applied to a 15 MW monopile offshore wind turbine simulated with OpenFAST software. The optimal tuning of the IPC parameters is performed by means of a multi-objective optimization solved by genetic algorithms. The optimization procedure minimizes two objective functions related to pitch signal effort and blade fatigue load. The resulting Pareto fronts show a range of optimal solutions for each IPC scheme. The selected optimal solution for IPC with azimuth offset compared to the optimal solution for IPC without offset achieves improvements of more than 10% in blade load reduction maintaining similar pitch signal effort.

Individual pitch control (IPC) is a method to mitigate periodic blade loads in wind turbines, and it is typically implemented using the multi-blade coordinate (MBC) transform, which converts the blade load measurements from a rotating frame into the non-rotating tilt axis and yaw axis. Previous studies have shown that by including an additional tuning parameter in the MBC, the azimuth offset reduces the coupling between non-rotating axes, allowing for higher performance levels for diagonal controller structures. In these studies, the decentralized control of IPC was composed of two identical integral controllers. This work analyzes and compares the improvement that the azimuth offset can provide in different adaptive gain scheduling IPCs where the diagonal controllers can have integral or proportional action with different gains. They are applied to a 15 MW wind turbine simulated with OpenFAST v3.5 software. The controller parameter tuning is addressed as an optimization that reduces blade fatigue load based on the damage equivalent load (DEL) and is resolved through genetic algorithms. Simulations show that only using different controller gains in IPC does not provide significant improvements; however, including azimuth offset in the optimal IPC schemes with integral controllers allows for the greatest DEL reduction with a lower actuator effort.

Wind turbine controllers are nowadays ever more advanced and rely on accurate internal controller model information. Therefore a calibrated model is needed for attaining predictable controller performance and ensuring stable operation. To calibrate the internal model information, a novel learning control scheme has recently been proposed that exploits the dynamics of the closed-loop controlled wind turbine system, without the need for wind speed measurements. The learning algorithm thereby periodically excites the generator power controller input signal. An extremum-seeking demodulation scheme was used to calibrate the internal model information. This paper improves the existing learning scheme in two ways: Firstly, it investigates how the frequency of the excitation signal influences the signal-to-noise ratio. Secondly, the problem was reformulated as a root-finding problem. This requires using the in-phase component of the phase-corrected learning signal. In addition, a precalculated lookup table relates the measured in-phase component directly to model uncertainty. It was found that an increased excitation frequency improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by an order of magnitude. Combined, these contributions improve the convergence speed more than twenty times, addressing the effect of aerodynamic degradation and its consequences on controller performance.

Due to the increasing share of (offshore) wind turbines, more stringent requirements on power quality have been established. Importantly, the low-voltage ride-through grid requirement states that a wind turbine must remain connected to the electrical grid after a short intermittent grid fault. In the industry mainly gain-scheduled PID-controllers are used to mitigate the effects of grid faults on turbine operation, whereas more advanced solutions have been proposed in the literature such as model predictive control or multiple parallel PI-controllers. Remarkably, all controller implementations mentioned earlier are based on feedback control, where no feedforward strategies have been discussed in the literature. However, feedforward control could improve grid fault recovery performance by exploiting the relatively known fault characteristics by virtue of the specification in the Transmission System Operator requirements. Therefore, for the first time, a norm-optimal Iterative Learning Control (NO-ILC) algorithm is presented that solves these issues by learning the feedforward signal that optimally mitigates the effects of a grid fault. The NO-ILC algorithm applies model-free learning based on iterations, in which the framework of NO-ILC has been extended to include explicit input constraints. The goal of the NO-ILC is to reduce a (quadratic) cost function on specific input and output channels whilst conforming to specific input constraints by solving an optimisation problem, with, for this study blade pitch and rotor speed as respective input and output channels. It is shown that the NO-ILC algorithm can yield improved performance on a high-fidelity model, with a 45% decrease in the cost function used by NO-ILC compared to the nominal feedback control. The optimised feedforward signals resulting from NO-ILC can be used as an analysis tool to closer match the nominal grid fault feedback controllers response with that of NO-ILC, or directly applied as a library that can supplement the feedback controllers output during a grid fault.

Advancements in wind turbine technology have made wind energy more cost-competitive. While taller towers use less material, they are more susceptible to fatigue. This study introduces a convex model predictive control scheme to actively counteract side-side periodic loads using a velocity-based approach, which captures the system's nonlinear behavior without requiring extensive prior operating points. A quasi-linear parameter-varying dynamic model for wind turbine towers is established through model demodulation transformation. Simulation results show a 96% reduction in net force in the side-side direction at the tower top under turbulent wind conditions.

As wind turbine power capacities continue to rise, taller and more flexible tower designs are needed for support. These designs often have the tower's natural frequency in the turbine's operating regime, increasing the risk of resonance excitation and fatigue damage. Advanced load-reducing control methods are needed to enable flexible tower designs that consider the complex dynamics of flexible turbine towers during partial-load operation. This article proposes a novel modulation-demodulation control (MDC) strategy for side-side tower load reduction driven by the varying speed of the turbine. The MDC method demodulates the periodic content at the once-per-revolution (1P) frequency in the tower motion measurements into two orthogonal channels. The proposed scheme extends the conventional tower controller by augmentation of the MDC contribution to the generator torque signal. A linear analysis framework into the multivariable system in the demodulated domain reveals varying degrees of coupling at different rotational speeds and a gain sign flip. As a solution, a decoupling strategy has been developed, which simplifies the controller design process and allows for a straightforward (but highly effective) diagonal linear time-invariant (LTI) controller design. The high-fidelity OpenFAST wind turbine software evaluates the proposed controller scheme, demonstrating effective reduction of the 1P periodic loading and the tower's natural frequency excitation in the side-side tower motion.

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are considered promising solutions for urban wind energy generation due to their design, low maintenance costs, and reduced noise and visual impact compared to horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs). However, deploying these turbines close to densely populated urban areas often triggers considerable local opposition to wind energy projects. Among the primary concerns raised by communities is the issue of noise emissions. Noise annoyance should be considered in the design and decision-making process to foster the social acceptance of VAWTs in urban environments. At the same time, maximising the operational efficiency of VAWTs in terms of power generation and actuation effort is equally important. This paper balances noise and aero-servo-elastic performance by formulating and solving a multi-objective optimisation problem from a controller calibration perspective. Psychoacoustic annoyance is taken as a novel indicator for the noise objective by providing a more reliable estimate of the human perception of wind turbine noise than conventional sound metrics. The computation of the psychoacoustic annoyance metric is made feasible by integrating it with an accurate and computationally efficient low-fidelity noise prediction model. For optimisation, an advanced partial-load control scheme – often used in industrial turbines – is considered, with the Kω2 controller as a baseline for comparison. Optimal solutions balancing the defined objectives are identified using a multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM) and are subsequently assessed using a frequency-domain controller analysis framework and mid-fidelity time-domain aero-servo-elastic simulations. The MCDM results indicate the potential application of this controller in small-scale urban VAWTs to attain power gains of up to 39 % on one side and to trade off a reduction in actuation effort of up to 25 % at the cost of only a 2 % power decrease and a 6 % increase in psychoacoustic annoyance on the other side compared to the baseline. These findings confirm the flexible structure of the optimally calibrated wind speed estimator and tip-speed ratio (WSE–TSR) tracking controller, effectively balancing aero-servo-elastic performance with noise emissions and marking the first instance of integrating residential concerns into the decision-making process.

Wind turbines degrade over time, resulting in varying structural, aeroelastic, and aerodynamic properties. In contrast, the turbine controller calibrations generally remain constant, leading to suboptimal performance and potential stability issues. The calibration of wind turbine controller parameters is therefore of high interest. To this end, several adaptive control schemes based on extremum seeking control (ESC) have been proposed in the literature. These schemes have been successfully employed to maximize turbine power capture by optimization of the Kω²-type torque controller. In practice, ESC is performed using electrical generator power, which is easily obtained. This paper analyses the feasibility of torque gain optimization using aerodynamic and generator powers. It is shown that, unlike aerodynamic power, using the generator power objective limits the dither frequency to lower values, reducing the convergence rate unless the phase of the demodulation ESC signal is properly adjusted. A frequency-domain analysis of both systems shows distinct phase behavior, impacting ESC performance. A solution is proposed by constructing an objective measure based on an estimate of the aerodynamic power.

On-shore horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) provide a cost-effective solution for low carbon electricity generation. However, public acceptance is still a problem. A possible alternative to a HAWT is a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT), which is more visually appealing and less noisy. Furthermore, the inherent omni-directionality of VAWTs makes them suitable for installation in urban environments where the turbulence levels are high, and the wind direction variations are significant. However, the variation with the azimuth angle of the blade-effective wind speed and the angle of attack makes VAWT performance difficult to predict. This study proposes a wind speed estimator for a VAWT to address this challenge and to exploit knowledge of the blade-effective wind speed for load reduction control strategies. An Unscented Kalman Filter is used to solve the blade-effective wind speed estimation problem and is applied to a realistic 1.5 m two-bladed H-Darrieus VAWT model, for which the aerodynamic characteristics are determined using an actuator cylinder model. The system performance is evaluated using different wind speed variation scenarios. Overall, good agreement between the reference and estimated blade-effective wind speed is found both in terms of trend and absolute values.

In most current offshore wind farms, the turbines are controlled greedily, neglecting any coupling by wake effects with other turbines. By neglecting these effects of aerodynamic interactions, the power production performance is substantially reduced. Besides the well-known wake steering and dynamic induction control wake control strategies, a novel wind farm flow control strategy called the Helix approach has been recently proposed to mitigate the impacts of wake effects and optimize wind farm performance. The Helix approach adopts the individual pitch control (IPC) technique to dynamically deform the wake into the helical shape, which induces wake instability and thereby stimulates wake recovery. The first results employing a single-harmonic signal have demonstrated promising enhancement in wake recovery effects. However, more complex signals to potentially improve the effectiveness of the Helix approach have never been studied. This paper explores the potential of using higher-harmonic signals in the Helix approach to further enhance wake mixing. The aeroelastic simulator, OpenFAST, with its recently developed free vortex wake codes is adopted to simulate the dynamic wake evolution. A Fourier stability analysis is used to quantitatively identify the wake breakdown position. Results show that in the baseline case where no Helix signals are implemented, the wake breaks down at 3.25 rotor diameter (D) from the rotor. When using the designed multi-sine Helix signals, the wake breaks down at 1.75 D from the rotor, which is a significant improvement over the breakdown distance at 2.50 D using the conventional single-sine Helix. The earlier wake breakdown indicates faster wake recovery and is to be validated by future higher-fidelity simulation studies.

The combined wind speed estimator and tip speed ratio (WSE-TSR) tracking control scheme is widely used to regulate power production for large-scale modern wind turbines. Although very effective, such an advanced control scheme, based on the prior model information, is highly dependent on external measurements. For partial-load region control, the only external information involved is commonly the measured rotor or generator speed. Inaccuracy in such sole measurement results in an unintended turbine operation and might lead to sub-optimal power production and instability. This paper presents a fault-tolerant control (FTC) method, which aims to eliminate the sensor fault effects for modern wind turbine systems. To fulfil this goal, an iterative learning scheme is proposed to detect and estimate the multiplicative sensor fault, on which an adaptive FTC law is formulated such that the effects of the sensor fault are eliminated. Case studies show that the proposed iterative learning FTC method performs well in detecting, estimating, and accommodating the sensor fault under realistic turbulent wind conditions. The advanced wind turbine controller can maintain its control performance even under faulty conditions, preventing further damage to other turbine components and allowing for continuous power production.

Wind turbine partial-load controllers have evolved from simple static nonlinear function implementations to more advanced dynamic controller structures. Such dynamic control schemes have the potential to improve power production performance in realistic environmental conditions and allow for a more granular trade-off between loads and energy capture. The control structure generally consists of a wind speed estimator (WSE) combined with a controller aiming to track the commanded tip-speed ratio (TSR) reference. The performance and resulting closed-loop system stability are however highly dependent on the accuracy of the internal model in the WSE-TSR tracking scheme. Therefore, developing learning algorithms to calibrate the internal model is of particular interest. Previous works have proposed such algorithms; however, they all rely on the availability of (rotor-effective) wind speed measurements. For the first time, this paper proposes an excitation-based learning algorithm that exploits the closed-loop dynamic structure of the WSE-TSR tracking scheme. This algorithm calibrates the internal model without the need for wind speed measurements. Analysis and simulations show that the proposed algorithm corrects for model uncertainties in the form of magnitude scaling errors under ideal constant and realistic turbulent wind conditions.

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)-assisted Model Predictive Control (MPC) for wind turbine control has received much attention for its ability to incorporate future wind speed disturbance information in a receding horizon optimal control problem. However, the growth of wind turbine sizes results in increasing system complexity and system interactions, and complicates the design of model-based controllers like MPC. Together with increasing data availability, this obstacle motivates the use of direct data-driven predictive control approaches like Subspace Predictive Control (SPC). An SPC implementation is developed that both does not suffer from traditional, potentially detrimental closed-loop identification bias and incorporates past and future (not necessarily periodic) disturbance information. Simulations of the presented method for above-rated wind turbine rotor speed regulation using pitch control demonstrate the capabilities of the data-driven SPC algorithm for increasing degrees of wind speed disturbance information in the developed framework.

In recent years, the amount of data available from systems has drastically increased, motivating the use of direct data-driven control techniques that avoid the need of parametric modeling. The aim of this paper is to analyze closed-loop aspects of these approaches in the presence of noise. To analyze this, a unified formulation of several approaches, including Data-enabled Predictive Control (DeePC) and Subspace Predictive Control (SPC) is obtained and the influence of noise on closed-loop predictors is analyzed. The analysis reveals potential closed-loop correlation problems, which are closely related to well-known results in closed-loop system identification, and consequent control issues. A case study reveals the hazards of noise in data-driven control.

The combined wind speed estimator and tip-speed ratio (WSE–TSR) tracking wind turbine control scheme has seen recent and increased traction from the wind industry. The modern control scheme provides a flexible trade-off between power and load objectives. On the other hand, the Kω2 controller is often used based on its simplicity and steady-state optimality and is taken as a baseline here. This paper investigates the potential benefits of the WSE–TSR tracking controller compared to the baseline by analysis through a frequency-domain framework and by optimal calibration through a systematic procedure. A multi-objective optimisation problem is formulated for calibration with the conflicting objectives of power maximisation and torque fluctuation minimisation. The optimisation problem is solved by approximating the Pareto front based on the set of optimal solutions found by an explorative search. The Pareto fronts were obtained by mid-fidelity simulations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW turbine under turbulent wind conditions for calibration of the baseline and for increasing fidelities of the WSE–TSR tracking controller. Optimisation results show that the WSE–TSR tracking controller does not provide further benefits in energy capture compared to the baseline Kω2 controller. There is, however, a trade-off in torque control variance and power capture with control bandwidth. By lowering the bandwidth at the expense of generated power of 2 %, the torque actuation effort reduces by 80 % with respect to the optimal calibration corresponding to the highest control bandwidth.

The reduction of fatigue loadings in wind turbines to increase their lifetime has become of special interest from a control viewpoint. Individual Pitch Control (IPC) is a well-known approach used to mainly mitigate periodic blade loads, and it is usually implemented with the assistance of the multi-blade coordinate (MBC) transformation, which transforms and decouples the measured blade load signals from a rotating frame into a non-rotating tilt-axis and yaw-axis. Nevertheless, these axes still show coupling between them in practical scenarios adversely affecting the system performance. Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of including an extra tuning parameter in the MBC, the azimuth offset, in improving the performance achieved by the IPC. However, the tuning of this parameter and its real improvements that can be obtained compared to the IPC without this offset require more research. Here, two 1P+2P IPC, with and without additional azimuth offset, are designed and applied to the 5 MW reference turbine model developed by NREL using the FAST software as a simulation platform. The controller parameter tuning is formulated as an optimization problem that minimizes the blade fatigue load according to the Dirlik index and that is resolved through genetic algorithms. To fairly analyze the improvement entailed by the addition of the azimuth offset, both optimized IPC schemes, with and without azimuth offset, are compared qualitatively and quantitatively using a classical controller as the baseline case. From the simulation results, it can be stated that the optimal IPC scheme with azimuth offset compared with the IPC scheme without offset achieves improvements of around 11% in load reduction and pitch signal effort.