Large Eddy Simulation studies of the effects of alignment and wind farm length

TL;DR

This study uses large eddy simulations to analyze how turbine alignment and wind farm length influence power output, revealing that optimal configurations often differ from traditional staggered layouts and depend on wind direction.

Contribution

It demonstrates that optimal wind farm alignment for maximum power output depends on wake interactions and is not necessarily achieved by perfect staggering.

Findings

Optimal alignment minimizes wake effects and varies with wind direction.

Perfect staggering does not always maximize power output.

Wind farm design should consider alignment effects for efficiency.

Abstract

Large eddy simulations of wind farms are performed to study the effects of wind turbine row alignment with respect to the incoming flow direction. Various wind farms with fixed stream-wise spacing (7.85 rotor diameters) and varying lateral displacements and span-wise turbine spacings are considered, for a fixed inflow direction. Simulations show that, contrary to common belief, a perfectly staggered (checker-board) configuration does not necessarily give the highest average power output. Instead, the highest mean wind farm power output is found to depend on several factors, the most important one being the alignment that leads to minimization of wake effects from turbines in several upstream rows. This alignment typically occurs at significantly smaller angles than those corresponding to perfect staggering. The observed trends have implications for wind farm designs, especially in sites with a well-defined prevailing wind direction.