Power performance evaluation and improvement of operational wind power plants

Abstract

The operation of wind farms on an industrial scale is relatively recent. With this new industrial era, wind farm operators are sometimes inclined to apply to wind the same methods of assessment and performance improvement (economic, energy, environmental, etc.) as those used for their so-called conventional power plants. The evaluation of energy performance is unquestionably one of the parameters most analyzed by operators. Energy performance can be evaluated by comparing the energy production of a plant (usually electricity) and the energy intake required for the said facility (e.g. coal, oil, wind, etc.). This assessment does not usually represent a significant technical challenge for so-called conventional plants. However, the complex nature of wind and its interaction with wind turbines makes this evaluation difficult for the wind energy sector. At present, the IEC 61400-12-1 standard is the only method accepted by the industry and which allows the energy performance of a single turbine to be evaluated. However, this approach is relatively costly. Further, the application of this standard in the industry over the past 15+ years has clearly established a number of associated limits. Thus, the first objective of this project was to try to improve current methods for assessing the energy performance of operational wind turbines and wind farms. In this context, the power curves of two wind turbines were able to be deducted by means of a model based on a neural network with six inputs and a multi-step technique. The results of this model were compared to several other modelling techniques and an increased accuracy was demonstrated for the cases analyzed. The second objective of this project consisted of attempting to improve the performance of turbines already in operation. After developing a more accurate method for power performance evaluation, tests on two operational turbines were conducted. The method used in an effort to increase energy production was based on optimizing the orientation of the nacelle-mounted wind vanes. Tests were conducted to assess the effect of wind vane orientation on the energy performance and the results obtained suggested that potential energy gains in the order of 1-3% could be achieved. Lastly, a number of findings from this project have been applied to various industrial projects in different contexts. Specifically, one wind farm owner has requested the services of the author to analyze the energy gain achieved pursuant to the installation of an improvement package on some of its wind turbines. A side-by-side comparison has been completed on two turbines fitted with this improvement package. Statistical tests have been developed in order to properly assess and quantify the energy gain and the associated uncertainty level.

Date	4 Apr 2014
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Christian Masson (Supervisor) & Antoine Tahan (Co-supervisor)