The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Técnico (DEM-IST) is pleased to announce a new seminar, under the Seminars@DEM 2022.
- 16th March 2022, 1 p.m. – In-person*
- Speaker: professor Ricardo Pereira (IST/DEM; idMEC)
- Title: “Smart Wind Farms : Beyond Energy Production”.
- Abstract:
Over the last few decades wind energy (WE) has established itself as a key technology for accomplishing the global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Modern WE machines are usually horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT). Nearly all HAWT are installed in clusters, termed parks or wind farms (WF), since grouping the turbines decreases the energy production costs associated with e.g. electricity transformation and farm maintenance. However, as the HAWTs are installed close to each other, there is often an interaction between the machines. In particular, when an array of HAWTs is aligned with the wind direction, the extraction of kinetic energy from the wind by an upstream turbine necessarily decreases the amount of available energy at a downstream HAWT. Adequate WF operation involves more than simply maximising energy production at all times. One reason for this is the ever-varying demand for electricity, particularly as the human activity’s energy needs change over the time. Another reason is that a larger WF energy production is associated with larger (structural) loads on the HAWTs, and as such may lead to a reduced lifetime of WE machines. In recent years the topic of turbine life-time extension has become extremely relevant since the accurate estimation of structural fatigue damage effectively experienced by WE machines and prediction of remaining fatigue reserve on the structures is crucial for deciding whether to continue operating ‘old’ WFs constructed 20-25 years ago, which now arrive at their originally planned decommission date.
This talk will address Smart Wind Farm operation. Departing from newly developed wind turbine and wind farm aerodynamic models and describing the main control strategies and techniques. Smart wind farm control paves the way for novel, integrated strategies for efficient and sustainable electricity production, beyond the load vs energy paradigm.
*Venue: Informatics III building, ground floor, FA3 amphitheatre.
