Validation of induction/steering reserve-boosting active power control by a wind tunnel experiment with dynamic wind direction changes

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental validation of an active power control methodology that combines induction control and wake steering to maximize the power reserve of the wind turbines in a farm. The experiments are carried out on a cluster of three scaled wind turbines in a boundary-layer wind tunnel, by dynamically varying the wind direction, and by considering a time-varying power tracking signal that mimics secondary frequency control of the grid. The methodology is compared with three active power control algorithms sourced from the literature. Results indicate that the instantaneous power reserves are indeed improved by an appropriate handling of wake effects, achieving a more accurate tracking of the power signal.