Impact of atmospheric stability conditions on wind farm loading and production

Analysis of full-scale offshore measurements has revealed a significant dependence of wake affected production losses on atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) stability conditions, and recent investigations has demonstrated a close correlation of this phenomenon with wake dynamics (meandering). Because wake meandering is heavily load generating, ABL stability conditions are expected to also significantly impact the structural loading of the individual wind farm turbines. The goal of the present project is to model the impacts caused by ABL stability conditions on both wake losses and structural loading of wind turbines operating in wind farms, to verify the developed models by comparison with full-scale wind farm measurements, and to apply the developed modeling framework for improved design of future MW turbines (incl. their load alleviating control system) operating in wind farms. The latter is achieved by disseminating the modeling platform to the market leading industrial partners participating in the project consortium. In order to facilitate the industrial implementation, and to demonstrate the capabilities of the model platform, a design procedure that includes ABL stability aspects will in addition be formulated.