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Spatiotemporal Correlations in the Power Output of Wind Farms: On the Impact of Atmospheric Stability

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolas Tobin

    (Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA)

  • Adam Lavely

    (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA)

  • Sven Schmitz

    (Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA)

  • Leonardo P. Chamorro

    (Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
    Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA)

Abstract

The dependence of temporal correlations in the power output of wind-turbine pairs on atmospheric stability is explored using theoretical arguments and wind-farm large-eddy simulations. For this purpose, a range of five distinct stability regimes, ranging from weakly stable to moderately convective, were investigated with the same aligned wind-farm layout used among simulations. The coherence spectrum between turbine pairs in each simulation was compared to theoretical predictions. We found with high statistical significance ( p < 0.01) that higher levels of atmospheric instability lead to higher coherence between turbines, with wake motions reducing correlations up to 40%. This is attributed to higher dominance of atmospheric motions over wakes in strongly unstable flows. Good agreement resulted with the use of an empirical model for wake-added turbulence to predict the variation of turbine power coherence with ambient turbulence intensity (R 2 = 0.82), though other empirical relations may be applicable. It was shown that improperly accounting for turbine–turbine correlations can substantially impact power variance estimates on the order of a factor of 4.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Tobin & Adam Lavely & Sven Schmitz & Leonardo P. Chamorro, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Correlations in the Power Output of Wind Farms: On the Impact of Atmospheric Stability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-12, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:8:p:1486-:d:224239
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huiwen Liu & Imran Hayat & Yaqing Jin & Leonardo P. Chamorro, 2018. "On the Evolution of the Integral Time Scale within Wind Farms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Pankaj K. Jha & Earl P. N. Duque & Jessica L. Bashioum & Sven Schmitz, 2015. "Unraveling the Mysteries of Turbulence Transport in a Wind Farm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Katzenstein, Warren & Fertig, Emily & Apt, Jay, 2010. "The variability of interconnected wind plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4400-4410, August.
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