Improvement of wind farm performance by means of spinner anemometry
It is a concern in wind energy that wind turbines do not yaw efficiently into the wind due to draw backs of nacelle anemometry. The loss of power is estimated to be 1-3% in flat terrain and offshore, and up to 5% in complex terrain. Risø DTU has developed an innovative concept, the spinner anemometer, which can determine the correct yaw error with very high accuracy. This will effectively improve yaw capability of wind turbines, and power losses will be reduced.
This project will demonstrate that spinner anemometers mounted on wind turbines in an existing wind farm can improve the energy output by 1-3%. In addition it will be demonstrated that spinner anemometers can improve verification of power performance methods in general. The project consortium is built up of partners that all have an interest in commercialization of the spinner anemometer, and which will benefit from the project. The specific objectives of the project are: - to test yaw operation in detail of a single wind turbine relative to a met mast, - to determine the yawing capability of existing nacelle anemometers on a row of wind turbines in an offshore wind farm, - yawing the wind turbines in the row by means of the spinner anemometers, - finally to determine improvements of performance verification according to the draft power performance verification standard IEC61400-12-2 CD by means of spinner anemometers. The ultimate objective of the project is commercialization of the spinner anemometer, for which the project will be a significant contribution
The most important technological result is that it was achieved to document yaw errors of wind tur-bines very accurately with the use of spinner anemometers. This was made after additional improve-ments of the instrument and the methods for calibration of the instrument. There has been measured on ten wind turbines which gives a statistics on the yaw errors. There were a few above 10deg but al-so a good few below 5deg. The average was 5-6deg. A yaw error of 10deg corresponds to 3% power loss while 5deg corresponds to 1% power loss. The most important result of the project, otherwise, is that the spinner anemometer technology patent was sold to ROMO Wind, which is commercializing the technology by product maturing the product and marketing the it all over Europe and North America. The primary market is the retrofit market in Europe, but later the market will include OEM wind turbine manufacturers. The market value in Europe with installed capacity of 109GW with 1% performance increase and installation costs of 1M€/MW of turbine power is 1.000M€.
Key figures
Category
Dokumenter
Participants
| Partner | Subsidy | Auto financing |
|---|---|---|
| Metek GmbH (DE) | 0,47 mio. DKK | |
| Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) | 1,84 mio. DKK | 2,24 mio. DKK |
| VATTENFALL A/S | 0,30 mio. DKK | 0,75 mio. DKK |
| VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S | 0,07 mio. DKK |
Contact
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet. Risø Nationallaboratoriet for Bæredygtig Energi (Risø DTU). Afdelingen for Vindenergi
Frederiksborgvej 399, Bygning 118
DK-4000 Roskilde
www.risoe.dtu.dk
Friis Pedersen, Troels , 46775042, trpe@risoe.dtu.dk
Øvr. Partnere: Metek GmbH; Vestas Wind Systems; Vattenfall A/S
