Project Details

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Wind Farm Optimization for Green Energy Production

Company: BP Production

Major(s):
Primary: CMPSC
Secondary: ME

Non-Disclosure Agreement: YES

Intellectual Property: YES

This is an ongoing project that will be in its fourth semester at Penn State. There is a baseline simulator already developed on the FLORIS (python-based) platform (from National Renewable Energy Laboratories: NREL). It uses wind speed and direction to optimize the direction of the wind farm turbines (yaw) to minimize the wake (the disrupted air flow behind the turbine), while maximizing energy production for the entire wind farm. Goals for this phase of the project are to: 1. Develop an expert system based on the offline FLORIS simulation which would take real-time weather conditions to create a graphical user interface (GUI), detect statistically significant changes in the median weather conditions, and send communications (e.g., emails or work orders) monthly/weekly/daily on the optimal offsets for each wind turbine for nine different onshore wind farms. a. Complete the simulation by loading data for the remaining 5 wind farms. b. Complete the offline simulations to generate data which will be used to develop the expert system. c. Develop the method to import real time data into the expert system. d. Develop and implement the expert system on the organization’s laboratory systems. 2. Quantify and predict mechanical loading. Does wake optimization cause additional loading? If so for what ranges of yaw offset? Can we quantify this? a. What are the critical components of wind turbines which are impacted by yaw offsets for wake optimization? b. Is it possible to estimate the impact on maintenance or the life of the critical components? c. Develop a prediction (soft sensor) for maintenance or asset life based on loads? d. Discussion with NREL and vendors to understand maximum yaw constraints. e. Implement the loads/maintenance/lifetime prediction in the expert system so that when optimal yaw offsets are proposed the potential loads impact can be considered.