Initial Results From a Field Campaign of Wake Steering Applied at a Commercial Wind Farm: Part 1

Wake steering is a form of wind farm control in which turbines use yaw offsets to affect wakes in order to yield an increase in total energy production. In this first phase of a study of wake steering at a commercial wind farm, two turbines implement a schedule of offsets. Results exploring the observed performance of wake steering are presented, as well as some first lessons learned. For two closely spaced turbines, an approximate 13 % increase in energy was measured on the downstream turbine over a 10° sector. Additionally, the increase of energy for the combined upstream/downstream pair was found to be in line with prior predictions. Lastly, the influence of atmospheric stability over the results is explored.