Investigation of wind turbine performance coupling wake and topography effects based on LiDAR measurements and SCADA data

This paper investigates the power generations of four wind turbines coupling the wake and topography effects with field measurements and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) data. Two LiDARs (Light Detection and Ranging) were adopted for the four turbines’ wake detections which lasted for 6 months. Based on the wake interference degrees depending on the incoming wind directions and relative locations of turbines, three scenarios were observed, i.e. full wake effects (at the incoming wind direction from the top view), part wake effects and separated wake effects. Results show that the altitude is not the only significant influence factor on wind velocities. Larger gradient with a longer distance of mountain slop can conduct more obvious “Speed-up effect”. The increase of power generation from full wake effect to part wake effect can reach 15% and the terrain effect amplifies the increasement of the power generation. Meanwhile, significant wake recoveries are observed with the multi-wake interactions. Results in this paper can provide guidelines for the micro-sing and turbines’ operating of wind farm in complex terrain.