The proposed model for the wind speed deficit in wind farms is analytical and encompasses both small wind farms and wind farms extending over large areas. As is often the need for offshore wind farms, the model handles a regular array geometry with straight rows of wind turbines and equidistant spacing between units in each row and equidistant spacing between rows. Firstly, the case with the flow direction being parallel to rows in a rectangular geometry is considered by defining three flow regimes. Secondly, when the flow is not in line with the main rows, solutions are suggested for the patterns of wind turbine units corresponding to each wind direction. The presentation is an outline of a model complex that will be adjusted and calibrated with measurements in the near future. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Average power losses due to wind turbine wakes are of the order of 10 to 20% of total power output in large offshore wind farms. Accurately quantifying power losses due to wakes is, therefore, an important part of overall wind farm economics. The focus of this research is to compare different types of models from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to wind farm models in terms of how accurately they represent wake losses when compared with measurements from offshore wind farms. The ultimate objective is to improve modelling of flow for large wind farms in order to optimize wind farm layouts to reduce power losses due to wakes and loads.The research presented is part of the EC-funded UpWind project, which aims to radically improve wind turbine and wind farm models in order to continue to improve the costs of wind energy. Reducing wake losses, or even reduce uncertainties in predicting power losses from wakes, contributes to the overall goal of reduced costs. Here, we assess the state of the art in wake and flow modelling for offshore wind farms, the focus so far has been cases at the Horns Rev wind farm, which indicate that wind farm models require modification to reduce under-prediction of wake losses while CFD models typically over-predict wake losses. Further investigation is underway to determine the causes of these discrepancies.

This article gives an overview of the different ways the wind resource at a site can be estimated. Eight separate ways have been identified. Each of these will be described in some detail, and advantages and disadvantages of each of them will be discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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We extend the infinite wind-farm boundary-layer (IWFBL) model of Frandsen to take into account atmospheric static stability effects. This extended model is compared with the IWFBL model of Emeis and to the Park wake model used in Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP), which is computed for an infinite wind farm. The models show similar behavior for the wind-speed reduction when accounting for a number of surface roughness lengths, turbine to turbine separations and wind speeds under neutral conditions. For a wide range of atmospheric stability and surface roughness length values, the extended IWFBL model of Frandsen shows a much higher wind-speed reduction dependency on atmospheric stability than on roughness length (roughness has been generally thought to have a major effect on the wind-speed reduction). We further adjust the wake-decay coefficient of the Park wake model for an infinite wind farm to match the wind-speed reduction estimated by the extended IWFBL model of Frandsen for different roughness lengths, turbine to turbine separations and atmospheric stability conditions. It is found that the WAsP-recommended values for the wake-decay coefficient of the Park wake model are (i) larger than the adjusted values for a wide range of neutral to stable atmospheric stability conditions, a number of roughness lengths and turbine separations lower than 10 rotor diameters and (ii) too large compared with those obtained by a semiempirical formulation (relating the ratio of the friction to the hub-height free velocity) for all types of roughness and atmospheric stability conditions.