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DTU and Vattenfall look at turbine placement

By: Tom Russell 22/02/2018 DTU

General Windfarms

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Vattenfall have joined forces to investigate how offshore wind farms should be positioned so that they do not steal the wind off each other.

Currently, there are 13 wind farms in Denmark and several more are expected in the future. However concerns are being raised regarding disadvantages with arrays being located in close proximity to each other.

Project Manager from DTU Wind Energy, Xiaoli Guo Larsén, commented: "If you do not think strategically about the location of the major wind farms in the future, then they could cause a reduction in electricity production from other wind farms located nearby."

The reason is the so-called shadow effect. When a wind turbine is hit by the wind and exploits wind energy to produce electricity, there will be less wind behind the wind turbine. The "rearward" wind turbines will, therefore, produce less energy. The same can be the case with the wind farms themselves.

"The calculation methods that are used today take the shadow effect inside a wind farm into account. But DTU Wind Energy and Vattenfall will expand the calculation method with two additional components.

"The two new components are the shadow effect from nearby wind farms and ocean surface parameters such as waves. Both are important to include in the calculations if we are to get the most out of new wind farms in the future," concluded Xiaoli Guo Larsén.

The project, which will be completed in April 2020, will also investigate how the shadow action between the major parks will affect the planning and operation of the electricity system.

"We are constantly working to develop more precise methods for estimating production from offshore wind farms. The 'OffshoreWake' project should make us even better at predicting how much two wind farms affect one another. This will reduce uncertainty and make it easier to make investment decisions," commented Ylva Odemark, Research Director of Wind Power in Vattenfall.

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DTU and Vattenfall look at turbine placement

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