3-D Layout Optimization of Wind Turbines Considering Fatigue Distribution

As wind resources and land resources become increasingly strained with the rapid expansion of wind energy, the problem of getting a better micro-sitting of wind turbines has gained more and more concerns in the wind industry. A methodology of three-dimension layout of wind turbines (WTs) is proposed in this paper to optimize the horizontal layout and vertical hub height simultaneously. New development of low speed WT technology and influences of micro-sitting of WTs to their O&M costs are considered for the first time. A nested loop consisting of a harmony search algorithm-based layout optimization and a sorting genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II)-based turbine selection is also presented to deal with the multi-objective functions. In the optimization process, a polar coordinate transformation-based wake effect model is conducted to simplify the wake effect calculations among the multiwind turbines with different hub height and rotor diameters when the wind direction changes. A 100MW wind farm case is discussed to illustrate the flexibility and performance improvements of the proposed methodology.