Wind Power Plant control is the attempt to get away from an individually optimal control of the turbines in a wind power plant, to a collaborative approach in order to use the wind resource optimally. By controlling the wakes of especially the most upstream row of turbines, there is more wind for the next turbines, and especially offshore the turbulence level is increased, leading to a quicker breakdown of the individual wakes. This should increase the total power capture of the wind power plant, but also has the potential to reduce the loads on the turbines and thereby to increase their lifetime.
A wind power plant is exposed to variations on many different time scales. The picture above shows those and as well as the individual tasks in which TotalControl addresses those time scales from a control perspective.
In the end, the project will deliver an open-source toolbox, validated with measurements at ORE Catapult's 7MW turbine, at Vattenfall's Lillgrund wind farm, and with high-fidelity modelling from DTU and KU Leuven.