Wake steering software enhances production at windfarm level

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has developed software that enables it to actively adjust turbines in an offshore windfarm, redirecting wind flow from individual machines, reducing the adverse effect on overall production of the wake effect

It says the resulting shift in direction of wake away from downstream turbines allows it to increase annual energy production from a windfarm by up to 1%. The software can be customised according to site conditions and can be retrofitted on existing Siemens Gamesa gearless and geared offshore wind turbines.

The concept, ‘Wake Adapt,’ was launched at the WindEurope Offshore 2019 conference and exhibition in Copenhagen, weeks after wind energy developer Ørsted admitted that it had been over-estimating production from its offshore windfarms, partly because it had been under-estimating the impact of wake effects.

Siemens Gamesa head of offshore technology Morten Pilgaard Rasmussen said, “The Wake Adapt feature is about proactive problem-solving. Instead of letting the wind and wake fully dictate how much energy we can capture, we safely direct the wake – and its unfavourable effects – away from our machines across the entire power plant. Through digitalisation, we can produce more energy from the same turbines, benefiting our customers, ratepayers, and society.”

Remotely activated, ‘Wake Adapt’ adjusts the yaw angle of turbines when the wake of upstream turbines is negatively affecting downstream turbines.

These offset angles deflect the wake away from downstream turbines, controlling the wind to ensure that downstream turbines receive undisrupted wind flow. “This redistributes production across a row of turbines, increasing the performance of the entire windfarm,” said Siemens Gamesa.

The adaptations are made depending on site-specific conditions and comply with load design envelopes for turbines and support structures.

Mr Rasmussen said, “We have a solution which – depending on project specific factors – can be retrofitted to existing windfarms using Siemens Gamesa Direct Drive and geared G4 offshore wind turbines.”