Analysis of shading losses and wake turbulence characteristics of large offshore wind farms by comparing »alpha ventus« and »BARD Offshore 1« (GW Wakes)

ForWind – Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Aim of project "GW Wakes" is to reduce the earning and operating risks of large offshore wind farms. This is to be achieved by verifying the interaction of the turbulent maritime boundary layer with very large wind farms as well as the characterization of the turbulent wake conditions of the individual wind turbines and the entire park. The project thus serves the more economical design of wind turbines and new large offshore wind farms.

The core of the project is the test of a LiDAR network in the environment of the wind farm alpha ventus. The focus is on the detection of wake of wind turbines. As part of a trial phase, two LiDAR devices were set up and operated on FINO1. A LiDAR was preinstalled on land on the roof of a container, which is equipped with connecting lines as a central point of contact, and afterwards transported to FINO1. The second LiDAR device was installed on the deck area inside the mast structure.

Meteorological focus of the project and thus task of the AG Energy Meteorology is the modeling of local and regional flow conditions in and behind very large offshore wind farms by temporally and spatially high-resolution, dynamic large-eddy simulation (LES) of the entire three-dimensional wind field in the wind farm and through mesoscale simulation of the regional meteorological flow conditions and remote effects of wind farms.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is supporting the project FKZ 0325397A until the end of May 2016.