DTU Wind Energy and Vattenfall have joined forces on a project to investigate maximising offshore wind farm efficiency by studying turbine positioning.
OffshoreWake, due for completion in April 2020, will explore the so-called shadow effect whereby turbines reduce the wind available for others in the vicinity.
While current calculation methods take the phenomenon into account inside individual wind farms, DTU Wind Energy and Vattenfall will investigate the shadow effect from nearby wind farms and ocean surface parameters such as waves.
“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,” said DTU Wind Energy project manager Xiaoli Guo Larsén.
Vattenfall research director of wind power Ylva Odemark added: “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.”
Image: reNEWS
Vattenfall spotlights offshore shadows
By EBS