We innovate: Dynamic Wind Farm Flow Control project launched

The wake effect describes how wind can slow down after hitting a turbine, affecting those turbines situated further away. The project will develop and implement two technologies: “closed-loop active wake steering” and “HELIX active wake mixing”. The wake steering involves the yaw control of the individual turbines, which will divert the wake, so it does not impact the next wind turbine. The wake mixing technology involves letting one turbine turn quicker, which leaves more wind for the turbine behind it.

“I’m very excited to work with TU Delft, SGRE, GROW, and all involved partners on unleashing the full potential of Dynamic Wind Farm Flow Control project. This project is part of CrossWind’s innovation plan that will demonstrate five effective solutions for improving the flexibility and reliability of power supply of Hollandse Kust Noord and future wind farms,” says Maria Kalogera, CrossWind’s Innovations Manager.

Six PhD students and two postdoc researchers will be working on the innovation. The project has several phases, which includes initial desktop and computational studies, wind tunnel experiments, an onshore research wind turbine experiment, and the technologies will eventually be implemented in one of the SG 11.0-200 DD wind turbines supplied by SGRE. Finally, the potential impact of the full roll-out of these technologies across the entire wind farm is researched, as well as how these technologies could impact the design and power production of future wind farms.