FastWind – Faster turbine development and sharper wind farm monitoring using DDA

The project will introduce Dynamic Data Analysis (DDA) in the Danish wind industry. DDA is a powerful statistical method that, with no extra costs, fully exploits the fast data from modern wind turbines. Most of the traditional analysis is still performed using 10-min mean values, a classic example being the IEC 61400-12-1 standard power curve test. Using DDA, turbine development can be accelerated with faster testing which will result in more competitive products. Wind farm costs will be reduced by using DDA to rapidly identify under-performing turbines. With the ever increasing size of the wind energy market, wind turbine technical development has reached a stage where even small optimizations can have important commercial significance. The FastWind project will apply DDA to power curve testing using a wider variety of anemometer types than previously attempted (including nacelle based lidar and spinner-sonic sensors). A novel and even more ambitious step is to demonstrate the power of DDA when applied to the analysis of wind turbine load measurements. When this technique has been established, it will be possible, using DDA, more quickly to optimize turbine design and control both with respect to power performance and loading.