Enhanced wind-farm performance using windbreaks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through large eddy simulations that properly optimized windbreaks can enhance the overall power output of large wind farms by balancing flow speed-up and drag effects.

Contribution

It reveals that windbreaks should be lower in wind farms than for single turbines and identifies the optimal height for maximizing performance.

Findings

Windbreaks can increase wind farm power production.

Optimal windbreak height depends on farm layout.

Properly designed windbreaks improve total pressure flux.

Abstract

The flow speed-up generated by windbreaks can be used to increase the power production of wind turbines. However, due to the increased drag imposed by the windbreaks, their use in large wind turbine arrays has been questioned. We use large eddy simulations to show that windbreaks can increase the power production of large wind farms. A crucial finding is that windbreaks in a wind farm should be much lower than for a single turbine case. In fact, the optimal windbreak for an isolated turbine can reduce wind farm performance. The optimal windbreak height in a wind farm namely depends on the right balance between flow speed-up over the windbreak and the drag imposed by all windbreaks in the farm. The increased performance is a result of the favorable total pressure flux created by the windbreaks.