Analyzing Effects of Turbulence on Power Generation Using Wind Plant Monitoring Data: Preprint

Jie Zhang, Brian Hodge, Souma Chowdhury

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology is developed to analyze how ambient and wake turbulence affects the power generation of a single wind turbine within an array of turbines. Using monitoring data from a wind power plant, we selected two sets of wind and power data for turbines on the edge of the wind plant that resemble (i) an out-of-wake scenario (i.e., when the turbine directly faces incoming winds) and (ii) an in-wake scenario (i.e., when the turbine is under the wake of other turbines). For each set of data, two surrogate models were then developed to represent the turbine power generation (i) as a function of the wind speed; and (ii) as a function of the wind speed and turbulence intensity. Support vector regression was adopted for the development of the surrogate models. Three types of uncertainties in the turbine power generation were also investigated: (i) the uncertainty in power generation with respect to the published/reported power curve, (ii) the uncertainty in power generation with respect to the estimated power response that accounts for only mean wind speed; and (iii) the uncertainty in power generation with respect to the estimated power response that accounts for both mean wind speed and turbulence intensity. Results show that (i) under the same wind conditions, the turbine generates different power between the in-wake and out-of-wake scenarios, (ii) a turbine generally produces more power under the in-wake scenario than under the out-of-wake scenario, (iii) the power generation is sensitive to turbulence intensity even when the wind speed is greater than the turbine rated speed, and (iv) there is relatively more uncertainty in the power generation under the in-wake scenario than under the out-of-wake scenario.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages16
StatePublished - 2014
EventAIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition - National Harbor, Maryland
Duration: 13 Jan 201417 Jan 2014

Conference

ConferenceAIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition
CityNational Harbor, Maryland
Period13/01/1417/01/14

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-5D00-60989

Keywords

  • surrogate modeling
  • turbulence
  • turbulence intensity
  • uncertainty quantification
  • wind distribution
  • wind plants

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