Measuring Wake Deflection from SCADA Data during Wake Steering Using Machine Learning

Two plots shown side by side. On the left is a multi-line chart. Reference wind direction is on the x-axis and predicted log power ratio is on the y-axis. Each line represents a wind vane of 0, 5, 10, 15, or 20 degrees. On the right is left is a line chart with wind vane on the x-axis and miniumum log power ratio wind direction on the y-axis.
Left: Predicted log power ratios for a light gradient boosting machine. Wind speed is held at a constant 8m/s and turbulence intensity is held at a constant 0.10. Wind direction is varied from 195-241 degrees. The wind vane of turbine SMV6 is varied from 0 to 20 degrees. Right: The wind direction at which each value for the wind vane of SMV6 resulted in the lowest predicted log power ratio.
Abstract
As wake steering is implemented on large wind plants, methods for evaluating how well these systems optimize plant performance are needed. The data analysis from experiments conducted so far generally focuses on evaluating the improvement in power or energy production of the plant and comparing that to the predicted improvement. In this study, we explore a new approach to provide additional insight and validation of optimization tools by measuring the wake deflection experimentally using only the downstream turbine as a sensor. This approach is demonstrated using the SMARTEOLE wind plant wake steering experimental data. Light gradient boosting machines (LGBM) and Gaussian process (GP) machine learning models are trained and then interrogated by making a set of predictions under defined conditions to determine the wake deflection observed at the downstream turbine. The data set is sparse, particularly for larger yaw angles, and noisy due to factors not captured in the SCADA leading to relatively high uncertainty in the predictions. The GP model is better suited to smoothly fit this data. Using the GP model, a wake deflection of 0.35 rotor diameters at 3.7 rotor diameters downwind is estimated for a yaw error of 20 degrees on the upwind turbine.
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Khoury Vis Lab — Northeastern University
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