Comparative study of the behavior of wind-turbines in a wind farm

The Sotavento wind farm is an experimental wind farm which has different types of wind turbines. It is located in an area whose topography is moderately complex, and where wake effects can be significant. One of the objectives of Sotavento wind farm is to compare the performances of the different machines; particularly regarding power production, maintenance and failures. However, because of wakes and topography, the different machines are not working under identical conditions. Two linearized codes have been used to estimate topography effects: UPMORO and WAsP. For wind directions in which topography is abrupt, the non-linear flow equations have been solved with the commercial code FLUENT, although the results are only qualitatively used. For wake effects, the UPMPARK code has been applied. As a result, the incident velocity over each wind turbine is obtained, and the power production is estimated by means of the power curve of each machine. Experimental measurements give simultaneously the wind characteristics at the measuring stations, the wind velocity, at the nacelle anemometer, and the power production of each wind turbine. These experimental results are employed to validate the numerical predictions. The main objective of this work is to deduce and validate a relationship between the wind characteristics measured in the anemometers and the wind velocity and the power output in each machine. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.