Dr. Breiffni Fitzgerald

Summary

In the current state-of-the-art, each turbine in a wind farm is controlled to maximise its own individual performance, ignoring the effect that the turbine has on the other turbines in the wind farm - this is a sub-optimal approach. MeLodiC will develop new wind farm models taking aerodynamic wake interaction effects into account. These new models will be used to develop novel wind farm controllers with the goal of holistically optimizing wind farm power production. Advanced control algorithms will be integrated with powerful machine learning techniques (using high performance computing) to adaptively 'learn' the best way to control wind farms.

Funding Agency

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)

Programme

Frontiers for the Future

Summary

This project will model, develop and experimentally test novel wind farm controllers that will improve the efficiency of the existing fleet of Irish wind farms accounting for turbulent effects in the wake. The effects of rapidly changing wake aerodynamics due to turbulence will be considered in the wind farm models and controllers. The project will simulate, in real-time, the interaction of the controlled wind farms with the Irish electrical grid and will demonstrate increased wind farm energy yield from the existing fleet of Irish wind farms. The impact of the developed controllers on O&M strategies for wind farms will also be investigated. Traditionally the power output of each turbine in a wind farm is controlled independently. In this project novel controllers will be developed utilising hardware already installed on the wind turbines (i.e. yaw controllers, pitch controllers, torque controllers and power electronic devices) and they will cooperate with each other to optimise the wind farm's overall performance rather than optimising each turbine's individual performance. This project will simulate and study various wind turbine and wind farm scenarios in a real time system. The new controllers will be modelled and demonstrated using authentic wind farm data from real wind farms. The aim of the project is to increase the efficiency of Ireland's existing fleet of wind farms to obtain increased wind farm energy yield, increased wind turbine availability and longer wind farm life due to enhanced O&M practices.

Funding Agency

SEAI

Programme

Research Demonstration and Development 2018

Person Months

36

Summary

The WRAM is a powerful, single-bodied heaving buoy point absorber with a pneumatic PTO, intended for utility-scale arrays in deep-water ocean sites. The main CAPTOW objective is to optimise the control algorithms and PTO systems, backed by empirical tests. Simulations will predict performance, loads and forces, and are being validated by tank tests with true scale models. Key Deliverables - Predicted performance, loads and forces from WEC-Sim, CFX, RANSE and SPH solvers validated by tank tests. - Assessment of RANSE and SPH solvers. - Control algorithms developed and tested using real-time hybrid systems test rig. - Prototype PTO system designed, built and tested. - Techno-economic evaluation and estimated LCOE.

Funding Agency

European Commission

Programme

H2020 OCEAN ERA-NET

Project Type

Research

Summary

In order to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions targets set out in the Paris agreement, Ireland will need to significantly decarbonise its energy supply. Due to reducing costs, offshore wind now offers the most viable means for large scale decarbonisation of Irelands electricity supply by 2030. It is predicted that the offshore wind installation rate in Europe will increase 400% resulting in an industry worth more than €20 Billion per year in Europe alone. In Ireland, it is estimated that 1.8GW of offshore wind capacity at an estimated cost of ~€4.5 billion, will be installed by 2030. One of the key challenges in the engineering design of an Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) relates to choosing appropriate values for damping of the OWT structure. Choosing more realistic values of damping in design can lead to significant reductions in the calculated loads acting on the structure, and also large reductions in fatigue damage, which can lead to savings of up to 10% in steel weight across the structure. In the Irish context this would equate to potential cost savings of ~€230m by 2030 (assuming 1.8GW of offshore wind is developed) and in excess of €1 billion per year across Europe. The primary goal of this project is to advance the scientific knowledge of OWT damping and provide accurate and realistic damping values for use in the design of Irish offshore wind farms, specific to soil types and conditions relevant for potential offshore wind development zones around Ireland.

Funding Agency

SEAI

Programme

2019 Research Development and Demonstration Programme

Project Type

Research

Person Months

36