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At least 811 records · Page 45

Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis

In support of the national goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office has published an Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis. Transmission constraints— including both land-based transmission interconnections and offshore transmission—are expected to be one of the central challenges to meeting offshore wind deployment goals. Given current trends in offshore wind development, available technology, and state-level procurement goals, most of the first 30 GW of offshore wind are anticipated to be developed along the East Coast. This report summarizes current publicly available transmission analyses along the Atlantic Coast, as well as gaps in existing analyses. Improving understanding of offshore wind transmission options, establishing coordination and aligning processes among states and regions, and quantifying the long-term impacts of offshore wind transmission options will catalyze offshore wind energy’s growth and ensure adequate transmission and a reliable grid.

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Offshore Wind Market Report: 2023 Edition

The Offshore Wind Market Report: 2023 Edition provides detailed information on the U.S. and global offshore wind energy industries to inform policymakers, researchers, and analysts about technology, economic, and market trends. The scope of the report covers the status of over 293 global operating offshore wind energy projects as well as the broader global pipeline of projects in various stages of development through December 31, 2022. To provide up-to-date information and discussion on this emerging industry in the United States, this report tracks the significant U.S. domestic industry progress and events from January 1, 2022, through May 31, 2023. The U.S. offshore wind energy project development pipeline has reached a potential generating capacity of over 52 gigawatts, and the industry has seen strong support from state and federal governments (such as from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the announced Floating Offshore Wind Shot to reduce the cost of floating wind by 70%). There are contracts for over 17 gigawatts of the electricity from these offshore wind projects and state policies are in place to procure over 42 gigawatts by 2040. Although some projects are facing economic headwinds due to rising costs and higher interest rates (corresponding to project cost increases of 11% - 30% in 2022), there has still been significant investment in a domestic supply chain (including manufacturing facilities, new vessels, and upgraded or planned ports). Technologies continue to evolve as offshore wind turbines in the 15-megawatt class advance towards commercial production. Key offshore wind energy market indicators, such as commercial leasing, state energy planning targets, procurement policies, offtake agreements, and federal support for U.S. jobs and supply chain development, point toward sustained market growth when viewed together, but the macroeconomic hurdles facing the first generation of commercial projects could significantly stunt that growth.

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WTK-LED: The WIND Toolkit Long-Term Ensemble Dataset

To satisfy a wide group of stakeholders across various wind energy disciplines, including but not limited to stakeholders in the distributed and utility scale wind industry, the new emerging airborne wind energy field, grid integration, power systems modeling, environmental modeling, and researchers in academia, and to close some of the gaps that current public datasets have, we aimed at developing an updated version of the meteorological WIND Toolkit, named WIND Toolkit Long-term Ensemble Dataset (WTK-LED), which is a meteorological dataset providing time series every 5 min and 2 km, including model uncertainty of wind speed at every modeling grid point so that users are provided with a range of possible wind speeds every 2 km. The data were produced using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). The vertical grid used in WTK-LED includes many vertical layers in the atmospheric boundary layer to provide information of atmospheric quantities across the rotor layer of utility scale and distributed wind turbines. The WTK-LED includes: 1) Numerical simulations covering the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, with high-resolution data being available for 3 years (2018-2020). 2) Climate simulations from Argonne National Laboratories covering the North American continent, including Alaska, Canada, and most of Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. These simulations complement the new WTK-LED to offer a 4-km dataset covering 20 years, from 2001-2020. 3) Specific long-term,high-resolution offshore simulations have been conducted separately for the US coasts, Hawaii, and the Great Lakes, leading to the 2023 National Offshore Wind data set. This report focuses on a description of the land-based WTK-LED for CONUS, Hawaii, and Alaska, for the 3-year 2-km/5-min dataset and the 20-year 4-km/hourly dataset, as well as the uncertainty quantification method. We also provide limited validation results. Based on our results to date, we suggest use cases and applications for each dataset of the WTK-LED.

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Sparsity for Gradient-Based Optimization of Wind Farm Layouts

Optimizing wind farm layouts is an important step in designing an efficient wind farm. Optimizing wind farm layouts is also a difficult task due to computation times increasing with the number of turbines present in the farm. The most computationally expensive part of gradient-based optimization is calculating the gradient. In order to reduce the expense of gradient calculation, we performed a study on the use of sparsity in wind farm layout optimization. This paper presents the findings of the sparsity study and provides a method to use sparsity in wind farm layout optimization. We tested this sparsity method by optimizing multiple farms with sparse methods and compared the results to optimizations of the same farms using traditional methods. By using the sparse method to optimize multiple farms, we found that the objective results were comparable between sparse and traditional methods and that sparse methods were 4 times faster than traditional methods on average. We expect more speedups with improved methodology and larger wind farms. By using sparse methods, it is possible to solve the wind farm layout optimization problem more efficiently, thus allowing for a more thorough study of the wind farm layout design space without excessive computational costs. Further work is required to refine the method and prepare for testing on real-world wind farm layout applications.

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The transmission ramifications of social and environmental siting considerations on wind energy deployment

Increasing the capacity of wind power is critical to achieving climate goals, however its continued deployment faces environmental and social siting challenges. For example, the United States government is increasingly emphasizing the importance of a just energy transition by considering the social impacts of energy and environmental justice (EEJ). In this study, we investigate the impact of considering available EEJ metrics and environmental impacts into siting wind power and transmission by applying SimWIND PRO . SimWIND PRO is an infrastructure optimization tool that can site wind energy technologies and transmission by concurrently considering wind resource potential, transmission costs, EEJ, and environmental impacts. We demonstrate the impacts of considering EEJ and environmental factors in the context of Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) western region, which includes some of the best wind energy potential in the United States. We show that prioritizing EEJ and environmental considerations in wind deployment can result in exponentially more transmission deployment for the same amount of wind power delivered, and results in selecting different wind farm sites. Our results also show that, depending on how it is considered, it is possible that constraining sites based on EEJ and environmental factors can reduce the available capacity of wind energy enough that energy transition capacity targets cannot be met.

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An Updated Review of Hypotheses Regarding Bat Attraction to Wind Turbines

Patterns of bat activity and mortalities at wind energy facilities suggest that bats are attracted to wind turbines based on bat behavioral responses to wind turbines. For example, current monitoring efforts suggest that bat activity increases post-wind turbine construction, with bats making multiple passes near wind turbines. We separated the attraction hypothesis into five previously proposed explanations of bat interactions at or near wind turbines, including attraction based on noise, roost sites, foraging and water, mating behavior, and lights, and one new hypothesis regarding olfaction, and provide a state of the knowledge in 2022. Our review indicates that future research should prioritize attraction based on social behaviors, such as mating and scent-marking, as this aspect of the attraction hypothesis has many postulates and remains the most unclear. Relatively more data regarding attraction to wind turbines based on lighting and noise emission exist, and these data indicate that these are unlikely attractants. Analyzing attraction at the species-level should be prioritized because of differences in foraging, flight, and social behavior among bat species. Lastly, research assessing bat attraction at various scales, such as the turbine or facility scale, is lacking, which could provide important insights for both wind turbine siting decisions and bat mortality minimization strategies. Identifying the causes of bat interactions with wind turbines is critical for developing effective impact minimization strategies.

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Resource and Load Compatibility Assessment of Wind Energy Offshore of Humboldt County, California

Floating offshore wind is being considered in northern California as indicated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s issuance of a lease consideration in the Humboldt Call Area. Humboldt County offers access to this enormous resource, but local electric load and transmission are limited. The potential impacts of offshore wind generators at three different scales were studied using a regional grid model of Humboldt County. Offshore wind generation was calculated using modeled wind speed data and 12-MW turbine specifications and integrated with projected load and historical generation. Offshore wind farms deployed in the Humboldt Call Area achieve annual capacity factors between 45% and 54% after losses and maintenance. Power output is variable between and within seasons, with full power output 30% of the time and no output approximately 20% of the time. Electricity from a 48-MW wind farm provides 22% of regional load with limited exports. A 144-MW wind farm serves 38% of local load, exporting 40% of its electricity with the extant 70-MW transmission capacity. A full build-out of 1836 MW would result in 88% curtailment with existing transmission. Across scenarios, offshore wind variability necessitates reliance on existing power plants to meet local demand in periods of low wind.

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Evaluating mesoscale model predictions of diurnal speedup events in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area of California

Mesoscale model predictions of wind, turbulence, and wind energy capacity factors are evaluated in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area of California (APWRA), where the diurnal regional sea breeze and associated terrain-driven speedup flows drive wind energy production during the summer months. Results from the Weather Research and Forecasting model version 4.4 using a novel three-dimensional planetary boundary layer (3D PBL) scheme, which treats both vertical and horizontal turbulent mixing, are compared to those using a well-established one-dimensional (1D) scheme that treats only vertical turbulent mixing. Each configuration is evaluated over a nearly 3-month-long period during the Hill Flow Study, and due to the recurring nature of the observed speedup flows, diurnal composite averaging is used to capture robust trends in model performance. Both model configurations showed similar overall skill. The general timing and direction of the speedup flows is captured, but their magnitude is overestimated within a typical wind turbine rotor layer. Both also fail to capture a persistent observed near-surface jet-like flow, likely due to the limited grid resolution that is typical of mesoscale models. However, the 3D PBL configuration shows several minor improvements over the 1D PBL configuration, including improved wind speed and turbulence kinetic energy profiles during the accelerating phase of the speedup events, as well as reduced positive wind speed bias at surface stations across the APWRA region. Using a mesoscale wind farm parameterization, modeled capacity factors are also compared to monthly data reported to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) during the study period. Although the monthly trend in the data is captured, both model configurations overestimate capacity factors by roughly 7 %–11 %. Through model evaluation, this study provides confidence in the 3D PBL scheme for wind energy applications in complex terrain and provides guidance for future testing.

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Local-thermal-gradient and large-scale-circulation impacts on turbine-height wind speed forecasting over the Columbia River Basin

Abstract. We investigate the sensitivity of turbine-height wind speed forecast to initial condition (IC) uncertainties over the Columbia River Gorge (CRG) and Columbia River Basin (CRB) for two typical weather phenomena, i.e., local-thermal-gradient-induced marine air intrusion and a cold frontal passage. Four types of turbine-height wind forecast anomalies and their associated IC uncertainties related to local thermal gradients and large-scale circulations are identified using the self-organizing map (SOM) technique. The four SOM types are categorized into two patterns, each accounting for half of the ensemble members. The first pattern corresponds to IC uncertainties that alter the wind forecast through a modulating weather system, which produces the strongest wind anomalies in the CRG and CRB. In the second pattern, the moderate uncertainties in local thermal gradient and large-scale circulation jointly contribute to wind forecast anomaly. We analyze the cross section of wind and temperature anomalies through the gorge to explore the evolution of vertical features of each SOM type. The turbine-height wind anomalies induced by large-scale IC uncertainties are more concentrated near the front. In contrast, turbine-height wind anomalies induced by the local IC thermal uncertainties are found above the surface thermal anomalies. Moreover, the wind forecast accuracy in the CRG and CRB is limited by IC uncertainties in a few specific regions, e.g., the 2 m temperature within the basin and large-scale circulation over the northeast Pacific around 140∘ W.

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A reference open-source controller for fixed and floating offshore wind turbines

Abstract. This paper describes the development of a new reference controller framework for fixed and floating offshore wind turbines that greatly facilitates controller tuning and represents standard industry practices. The reference wind turbine controllers that are most commonly cited in the literature have been developed to work with specific reference wind turbines. Although these controllers have provided standard control functionalities, they are often not easy to modify for use on other turbines, so it has been challenging for researchers to run representative, fully dynamic simulations of other wind turbine designs. The Reference Open-Source Controller (ROSCO) has been developed to provide a modular reference wind turbine controller that represents industry standards and performs comparably to or better than existing reference controllers. The formulation of the ROSCO controller logic and tuning processes is presented in this paper. Control capabilities such as tip speed ratio tracking generator torque control, minimum pitch saturation, wind speed estimation, and a smoothing algorithm at near-rated operation are included to provide modern controller features. A floating offshore wind turbine feedback module is also included to facilitate growing research in the floating offshore arena. All of the standard controller implementations and control modules are automatically tuned such that a non-controls engineer or automated optimization routine can easily improve the controller performance. This article provides the framework and theoretical basis for the ROSCO controller modules and generic tuning processes. Simulations of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW reference wind turbine and International Energy Agency 15 MW reference turbine on the University of Maine semisubmersible platform are analyzed to demonstrate the controller's performance in both fixed and floating configurations, respectively. The simulation results demonstrate ROSCO's peak shaving routine to reduce maximum rotor thrusts by over 10 % compared to the NREL 5 MW reference wind turbine controller on the land-based turbine and to reduce maximum platform pitch angles by nearly 30 % when using the platform feedback routine instead of a more traditional low-bandwidth controller.

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Seasonal variability of wake impacts on US mid-Atlantic offshore wind plant power production

Abstract. The mid-Atlantic will experience rapid wind plant development due to its promising wind resource located near large population centers. Wind turbines and wind plants create wakes, or regions of reduced wind speed, that may negatively affect downwind turbines and plants. We evaluate wake variability and annual energy production with the first yearlong modeling assessment using the Weather Research and Forecasting model, deploying 12 MW turbines across the domain at a density of 3.14 MW km−2, matching the planned density of 3 MW km−2. Using a series of simulations with no wind plants, one wind plant, and complete build-out of lease areas, we calculate wake effects and distinguish the effect of wakes generated internally within one plant from those generated externally between plants. We also provide a first step towards uncertainty quantification by testing the amount of added turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) by 0 % and 100 %. We provide a sensitivity analysis by additionally comparing 25 % and 50 % for a short case study period. The strongest wakes, propagating 55 km, occur in summertime stable stratification, just when New England's grid demand peaks in summer. The seasonal variability of wakes in this offshore region is much stronger than the diurnal variability of wakes. Overall, yearlong simulated wake impacts reduce power output by a range between 38.2 % and 34.1 % (for 0 %–100 % added TKE). Internal wakes cause greater yearlong power losses, from 29.2 % to 25.7 %, compared to external wakes, from 14.7 % to 13.4 %. The overall impact is different from the linear sum of internal wakes and external wakes due to non-linear processes. Additional simulations quantify wake uncertainty by modifying the added amount of turbulent kinetic energy from wind turbines, introducing power output variability of 3.8 %. Finally, we compare annual energy production to New England grid demand and find that the lease areas can supply 58.8 % to 61.2 % of annual load. We note that the results of this assessment are not intended to make nor are they suitable to make commercial judgments about specific wind projects.

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Effects of High-frequency Wind Sampling on Simulated Mixed Layer Depth and Upper Ocean Temperature

Effects of high-frequency wind sampling on a near-global ocean model are studied by forcing the model with a 12 hourly averaged wind product and its 24 hourly subsamples in separate experiments. The differences in mixed layer depth and sea surface temperature resulting from these experiments are examined, and the underlying physical processes are investigated. The 24 hourly subsampling not only reduces the high-frequency variability of the wind but also affects the annual mean wind because of aliasing. While the former effect largely impacts mid- to high-latitude oceans, the latter primarily affects tropical and coastal oceans. At mid- to high-latitude regions the subsampled wind results in a shallower mixed layer and higher sea surface temperature because of reduced vertical mixing associated with weaker high-frequency wind. In tropical and coastal regions, however, the change in upper ocean structure due to the wind subsampling is primarily caused by the difference in advection resulting from aliased annual mean wind, which varies with the subsampling time. The results of the study indicate a need for more frequent sampling of satellite wind measurement and have implications for data assimilation in terms of identifying the nature of model errors.

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Predicting and Managing Risk to Bats at Commercial Wind Farms using Acoustics

Bat populations in North America face novel threats from white-nose syndrome and widespread turbine-related mortality related to the rapidly expanding wind power industry in addition to long-standing pressures from habitat loss and degradation. Bats, unlike most small mammals, are long-lived and slow to reproduce, highlighting the importance of understanding and managing anthropogenic sources of mortality. My dissertation research used acoustic bat detectors to measure bat activity at commercial wind projects, predict patterns in risk, and design strategic measures to reduce fatality rates by curtailing turbine operation during periods when bats are most active. Bats collide with wind turbines only when their rotors are spinning, and risk of turbine-related fatality is therefore a dynamic factor that can be manipulated by curtailing turbine operation when bats are active. We first measured inter-detector variation in metrics of acoustic bat activity to understand how the acoustic detection process may affect inferences related to spatial and temporal variation in bat activity. Using acoustic detectors mounted on top of wind turbines at two commercial wind farms in West Virginia, we then demonstrated that the amount of bat activity recorded when turbines were operating aligned closely with bat fatality rates on multiple scales. Accordingly, the metric of bat activity exposed to turbine operation provides a meaningful, quantitative indicator of turbine-related bat fatality risk. Further, bats responded consistently to changing wind speed and temperature at turbines in both wind farms across multiple years, enabling exposed bat activity to be predicted accurately among turbines and years. Building on these results, we simulated exposure of bats to turbine operation and energy loss for curtailment strategies recommended by state and federal agencies in the United States and Canada. By adjusting parameters such as cut-in wind speeds and temperature thresholds, we demonstrated the ability to design strategic curtailment programs that achieve equivalent or greater predicted reductions in bat activity exposure for substantially less energy-production loss. Characterizing fatality risk on a finer scale using acoustics will help regulatory agencies and the wind industry alike reduce risks of population-level impacts to vulnerable bat species while continuing to expand large-scale renewable energy generation.

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A systems engineering vision for floating offshore wind cost optimization

The U.S. offshore wind resource potential is immense, and often in close proximity to densely-populated coastal load centers. In many U.S. coastal areas, water depths favor the deployment of floating over fixed-bottom offshore wind technology. Floating offshore wind plants have the potential to be cost-competitive with fixed-bottom installations, but because the technology has not yet been deployed at commercial scale, it is not clear when and with what configurations this potential cost parity can be achieved. This article first reviews the state of floating offshore wind technology and deployments to identify key gaps that must be addressed to bring down the overall cost of energy produced. The article then puts forth a long-term vision for a research program and design methodology that may be able to push floating wind plants toward a lower levelized cost of energy than fixed-bottom offshore wind. The method involves a fully integrated systems-engineering and techno-economic design approach to capture the complex interactions between the physics, manufacturing, installation, and operation of floating wind turbines to achieve transformational cost reductions. The approach also envisions multifidelity and uncertainty management strategies to examine the most robust and viable concepts in the design trade-space. To better focus the computational resources, engineering lessons learned from existing offshore wind systems and concept studies are used to develop a set of criteria that can be applied to prefilter candidate technology building blocks that have the greatest cost reduction potential.

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The Impact of Sound Ordinances on the Land-Based Wind Technical Potential of the United States

The rapid rise of sound ordinances has affected wind energy siting across state, county and local jurisdictions. Quantifying this impact on wind energy potential is required for effective energy planning. However, complex turbine sound modelling combined with evolving policies have contributed to limited understanding of these policies' impact on national wind technical potential. Here we develop an approach to evaluate wind turbine sound profiles across the United States and calculate setback distances from residential structures to translate sound-related policies into spatial turbine siting criteria. Compared to a baseline scenario that ignores sound, we find an 8% reduction in wind energy capacity when accounting for existing sound ordinances. Further, extrapolating a 45-A-weighted decibel (dBA) limit nationwide shows a 29% decline, disproportionately taken from high-quality and low-cost wind capacity. This reveals sound ordinances as a major factor in determining wind technical potential that could challenge US decarbonization goals reliant on wind energy.

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Environmental Effects Assessment for Proposed Offshore Wind Farm off the Coast of Grays Harbor, Washington

Grays Harbor Wind LLC (GHW) is proposing to develop a floating offshore wind farm offshore of west Grays Harbor County, Washington (Grays Harbor). The proposed GHW Offshore Wind Project (Project) would entail construction, installation and operation of a 1,000-megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm consisting of approximately 75 floating units, each containing a floating foundation and wind turbine generator (WTG). The Project location is approximately 25 miles (21.7 nautical miles [nmi]) offshore west of Grays Harbor, at waters depths of 360 to 700 feet. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was contracted by Herrera Environmental Consultants, Inc. on behalf of GHW to carry out this preliminary scoping study to evaluate baseline conditions and potential effects on fish and marine mammals from development and operation of a floating offshore wind farm installed within a designated area off the coast of Washington1. Floating offshore wind units installed in an ocean environment as part of the Project would interact with marine wildlife. This Study report provides an initial data aggregation and analysis, using publicly available data, of the Project effects, both negative and positive, on the marine environment. The scope of this assessment is limited by the fact that the Project development is presently at the conceptual level. Data on marine organisms were aggregated and evaluated; however seabirds were evaluated by Herrera Environmental Consulting and, along with bats, were not included in the scope of this study. Significant additional work is necessary to characterize ocean, seafloor, and environmental conditions; select appropriate floating offshore wind technologies; identify construction methods and locations; and assess facility locations, including electrical interconnection. Data aggregation and analysis of seabirds and bats is also needed. Evaluation of the full range of potential environmental effects would be conducted following an award of a lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) as part of the leasing, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)/State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) environmental review and permitting processes. While this initial data aggregation and analysis uses best available public scientific information and current assumptions about the Project configuration, the effects discussed herein are based on the status of review to-date and may change as Project-specific details are developed.

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Aerodynamic Characterization of 3D Scanned Wind Turbine Blades Using Experimental and Computational Methods

This study presents an aerodynamic characterization of 3D scanned wind turbine blades using both experimental and computational methods. The research was conducted by Gulf Wind Technology and Sandia National Laboratories. The primary objective was to investigate the aerodynamic impacts of leading-edge manufacturing defects on wind turbine blades. The study utilized the Stratasys NEO 800 3D Printer for high-precision manufacturing and the GWT Accelerator Wind Tunnel for experimental testing. Computational simulations were performed using COMSOL Multiphysics to model the wind tunnel and analyze flow characteristics and OpenFOAM to study the aerodynamic impacts of leading-edge defects. OpenFAST was used to estimate how these defects can lead to revenue losses for wind farm operators as high as 6%. The results demonstrated significant aerodynamic performance variations due to defects, with detailed analysis provided through wind tunnel and CFD data. The findings contribute to the understanding of defect impacts on wind turbine blade performance and offer insights for future design improvements.

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Estimation of Large-Scale Wind Field Characteristics Using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Measurements

As the wind energy industry continues to push for increased power production and lower cost of energy, the focus of research has expanded from individual turbines to entire wind farms. Among a host of interesting problems to be solved when considering the wind farm as a whole, we consider the challenge of scalar field estimation, based on information already collected at the individual turbine level. We aim to estimate the large-scale, low-frequency characteristics of the wind field, such as the mean wind direction and the overall decrease in wind speed across the farm, and employ a Kalman filter that models the wind field using a polynomial function. We compare the proposed method’s performance to both a simple averaging technique and filtering of individual turbine measurements. The method presented is not limited to wind turbines and is applicable in other situations where multiple remote agents are used to estimate a scalar field.

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