Wind Farm Optimization for Optimal Power Generation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ECSEE
Abstract
-There is growing interest in developing wind farms around
the world, especially in those countries which are blessed with
abundant wind resources. However, it is a bit of a challenge in the
UAE, which is interested in tapping the vast potential of wind power
but has limited wind resources. It is believed that there is always room
for improving the efficiency of windfarms (WF) through more
effective wind harvesting strategies and reducing the fatigue loads on
the turbines. The overall aim of this research is to optimize the power
generation of a WF in the UAE in order to maximize the energy output.
A relatively new WF was proposed to be built in Sir Bani Yas Island
in the UAE. This project was chosen to act as the main case
configuration for this research. Four configuration parameters were
proposed and assessed as follows: (1) inserting smaller turbines
between the original larger main turbines; (2) changing the spacing
between the turbines; (3) substituting new higher efficiency turbines in
place of the existing ones. Through using the WindFarm simulation
software, the impact of these four strategies was analyzed and
calculated. The main finding of this research indicates that introducing
more efficient WT units has a great impact in that it can increase output
by 24.5 %. In addition, wider spacing between rows can help to achieve
a better performance.
Description
Keywords
wind, power generation, UAE, wind turbine,
WindFarm software