scholarly journals Non-territorial GPS-tagged golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos at two Scottish wind farms: Avoidance influenced by preferred habitat distribution, wind speed and blade motion status

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0254159
Author(s):  
Alan H. Fielding ◽  
David Anderson ◽  
Stuart Benn ◽  
Roy Dennis ◽  
Matthew Geary ◽  
...  

Wind farms can have two broad potential adverse effects on birds via antagonistic processes: displacement from the vicinity of turbines (avoidance), or death through collision with rotating turbine blades. These effects may not be mutually exclusive. Using detailed data from 99 turbines at two wind farms in central Scotland and thousands of GPS-telemetry data from dispersing golden eagles, we tested three hypotheses. Before-and-after-operation analyses supported the hypothesis of avoidance: displacement was reduced at turbine locations in more preferred habitat and with more preferred habitat nearby. After-operation analyses (i.e. from the period when turbines were operational) showed that at higher wind speeds and in highly preferred habitat eagles were less wary of turbines with motionless blades: rejecting our second hypothesis. Our third hypothesis was supported, since at higher wind speeds eagles flew closer to operational turbines; especially–once more–turbines in more preferred habitat. After operation, eagles effectively abandoned inner turbine locations, and flight line records close to rotor blades were rare. While our study indicated that whole-wind farm functional habitat loss through avoidance was the substantial adverse impact, we make recommendations on future wind farm design to minimise collision risk further. These largely entail developers avoiding outer turbine locations which are in and surrounded by swathes of preferred habitat. Our study illustrates the insights which detailed case studies of large raptors at wind farms can bring and emphasises that the balance between avoidance and collision can have several influences.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2319
Author(s):  
Hyun-Goo Kim ◽  
Jin-Young Kim

This study analyzed the performance decline of wind turbine with age using the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) data and the short-term in situ LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measurements taken at the Shinan wind farm located on the coast of Bigeumdo Island in the southwestern sea of South Korea. Existing methods have generally attempted to estimate performance aging through long-term trend analysis of a normalized capacity factor in which wind speed variability is calibrated. However, this study proposes a new method using SCADA data for wind farms whose total operation period is short (less than a decade). That is, the trend of power output deficit between predicted and actual power generation was analyzed in order to estimate performance aging, wherein a theoretically predicted level of power generation was calculated by substituting a free stream wind speed projecting to a wind turbine into its power curve. To calibrate a distorted wind speed measurement in a nacelle anemometer caused by the wake effect resulting from the rotation of wind-turbine blades and the shape of the nacelle, the free stream wind speed was measured using LiDAR remote sensing as the reference data; and the nacelle transfer function, which converts nacelle wind speed into free stream wind speed, was derived. A four-year analysis of the Shinan wind farm showed that the rate of performance aging of the wind turbines was estimated to be −0.52%p/year.


2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 890-900
Author(s):  
Elizabeth T Methratta

Abstract Offshore wind farms often co-occur with biodiverse marine ecosystems with high ecological, economic, and cultural value. Yet there are many uncertainties about how wind farms affect marine organisms and their environment. The before–after–control–impact (BACI) design, an approach that compares an impact location with an unaffected control both before and after the intervention, is the most common method used to study how offshore wind farms affect finfish. Unfortunately, this design has several methodological limitations that undermine its ability to detect effects in these studies. An alternative approach, the before–after-gradient (BAG) design, would sample along a gradient with increasing distance from the turbines both before and after the intervention, and could overcome many of the limitations of BACI. The BAG design would eliminate the difficult task of finding a suitable control, allow for the assessment of the spatial scale and extent of wind farm effects, and improve statistical power by incorporating distance as an independent variable in analytical models rather than relegating it to the error term. This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of the BACI and BAG designs in the context of offshore wind development and suggests an approach to incorporating the BAG design into existing fisheries surveys and a regional monitoring framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 01049
Author(s):  
Anna Sobotka ◽  
Kajetan Chmielewski ◽  
Marcin Rowicki ◽  
Justyna Dudzińska ◽  
Przemysław Janiak ◽  
...  

Poland is currently at the beginning of the energy transformation. Nowadays, most of the electricity generated in Poland comes from coal combustion. However, in accordance to the European Union policy of reducing the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, there are already plans to switch to low-emission energy sources in Poland, one of which are offshore wind farms. The article presents the current regulatory environment of the offshore wind energy in Poland, along with a reference to Polish and European decarbonisation plans. In the further part of the article, the methods of determining the kinetic energy of wind and the power curve of a wind turbine are discussed. Then, on the basis of historical data of wind speeds collected in the area of the Baltic Sea, calculations are carried out leading to obtain statistical distributions of power that could be generated by an exemplary wind farm with a power capacity of 400 MW, located at the place of wind measurements. On their basis, statistical differences in the wind power generation between years, months of the year and hours of the day are analysed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 756-759 ◽  
pp. 4171-4174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Ming Wang ◽  
Xing Xing Mu

With the Asynchronous wind generators as research object, this paper analyzes the problems of the voltage stability and the generation mechanism of the reactive power compensation during the wind farms connected operation. For paralleling capacitor bank has shown obvious defects, therefore this paper employs dynamic reactive power compensation to improve reactive characteristics of grid-connected wind farms. With the influences of different wind disturbances and grid faults on wind farms, wind farm model is set up and dynamic reactive power compensation system and wind speeds are built in the Matlab/Simulink software, The simulation result shows that they can provide reactive power compensation to ensure the voltage stability of the wind farms. But STATCOM needs less reactive compensation capacity to make sure the voltage and active power approaching steady state before the faults more quickly, Therefore STATCOM is more suitable for wind farms connected dynamic reactive power compensation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaa S. Hasan ◽  
Randall S. Jackson ◽  
Ryoichi S. Amano

It is desired, through this work, to investigate in detail the scenario that takes place behind a single wind turbine unit by focusing on three parameters; average axial wind velocity component, velocity deficit, and total turbulence intensity. The testing was done at mainstream velocity, U∞, of 5.2 m/s, u and v velocity components were captured by x-probe dual-sensor hot wire anemometer. A massive amount of point data was obtained, which then processed by a matlab script to plot the desired contours through the successive transverse sections along the entire length of the test section. By monitoring the previously mentioned flow parameters, the regions of low velocity and high turbulence can be avoided, while the location of the subsequent wind turbine is selected. The estimation of the distance, at which the inlet flow field will restore its original characteristics after being mixed through the rotor blades, is very important as this is the distance that should separate two successive turbines in an inline configuration wind farm to guarantee the optimum performance and to extract the maximum power out of the subsequent array of turbines. It is found that the hub height axial velocity recovery at six rotor diameters downstream distance is only 82%. This fact means that the power extraction out of the downstream turbine in an inline configuration wind farm is only 55% of the upstream turbine if the same free stream velocity and blade design are adopted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Stanisław Chudzik

The article presents the results of research into the operation of a model of a wind micropower plant with a variable blade angle. The research was carried out on a miniature model of a measuring stand built for the purpose of carrying out work on pre-developed projects of wind micro power plants. The stand allows to carry out measurements related to the selection of the optimal propeller geometry, as well as the development and testing of algorithms for optimal control of the micropower plant. The physical basics of wind turbine operation and the methods of its optimal control are presented. The results of the performed measurements for the selected propeller blade geometry with the possibility of changing its setting angle are presented. A DC generator with a load with a non-linear characteristic in the form of a Li-Po battery cell was used. The results of operation of a simple MPPT control algorithm are presented. The lack of optimal control systems for the operation of micropower plants is dictated by the general belief that the costs of its production are high in relation to the possible improvement of the efficiency of micropower plants. Moreover, the practical methods of controlling larger wind turbines are not optimal for small and very small turbines. The conducted research focused on determining the possibility of using turbines with variable blade angles depending on its rotational speed. In larger wind farms, changing the blade angle is mainly used to limit the power of the turbine at high wind speeds. In micro wind power plants such solutions are not used for economic reasons. However, the use of a simple mechanism for changing the angle of the blades depending on the rotational speed of the propeller can increase the efficiency of the turbine in a wider range of wind speeds. The small dimensions of the research model allow for quick and cheap development of preliminary prototypes of turbine blades thanks to the possibility of using 3D printing technology.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara C. Pryor ◽  
Tristan J. Shepherd ◽  
Rebecca J. Barthelmie

Abstract. Inter-annual variability (IAV) of expected annual energy production (AEP) from proposed wind farms plays a key role in dictating project financing. IAV in pre-construction projected AEP and the difference in 50th and 90th percentile (P50 and P90) AEP derives in part from variability in wind climates. However, the magnitude of IAV in wind speeds at/close to wind turbine hub-heights is poorly constrained and maybe overestimated by the 6 % standard deviation of annual mean wind speeds that is widely applied within the wind energy industry. Thus there is a need for improved understanding of the long-term wind resource and the inter-annual variability therein in order to generate more robust predictions of the financial value of a wind energy project. Long-term simulations of wind speeds near typical wind turbine hub-heights over the eastern USA indicate median gross capacity factors (computed using 10-minute wind speeds close to wind turbine hub-heights and the power curve of the most common wind turbine deployed in the region) that are in good agreement with values derived from operational wind farms. The IAV of annual mean wind speeds at/near to typical wind turbine hub-heights in these simulations is lower than is implied by assuming a standard deviation of 6 %. Indeed, rather than in 9 in 10 years exhibiting AEP within 0.9 and 1.1 times the long-term mean AEP, results presented herein indicate that over 90 % of the area in the eastern USA that currently has operating wind turbines simulated AEP lies within 0.94 and 1.06 of the long-term average. Further, IAV of estimated AEP is not substantially larger than IAV in mean wind speeds. These results indicate it may be appropriate to reduce the IAV applied to pre-construction AEP estimates to account for variability in wind climates, which would decrease the cost of capital for wind farm developments.


2012 ◽  
Vol 608-609 ◽  
pp. 588-591
Author(s):  
Wen Jiang ◽  
Ye Xia Cheng ◽  
Ye Jian Cheng

Due to randomness and fluctuation of wind speed, reliability of power system will be affected severely with increasing wind energy injected into power grid. In order to evaluate the effect on reliability of power system with wind farms, the author considers feature of time-sequential and self-correlation of wind speeds and builds an auto-regressive and moving average (ARMA) model to forecast wind speeds. Combining with state models of conventional generating units, transmission lines and transformers, a time-sequential Monte Carlo simulation reliability model is proposed to do reliability assessment of composite generation and transmission system with wind farm. IEEE-RTS test system is introduced to prove the proposed model. Analysis and comparison of results show that reliability can be improved clearly after integration of wind farm.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0309524X2110438
Author(s):  
Carlos Méndez ◽  
Yusuf Bicer

The present study analyzes the wind energy potential of Qatar, by generating a wind atlas and a Wind Power Density map for the entire country based on ERA-5 data with over 41 years of measurements. Moreover, the wind speeds’ frequency and direction are analyzed using wind recurrence, Weibull, and wind rose plots. Furthermore, the best location to install a wind farm is selected. The results indicate that, at 100 m height, the mean wind speed fluctuates between 5.6054 and 6.5257 m/s. Similarly, the Wind Power Density results reflect values between 149.46 and 335.06 W/m2. Furthermore, a wind farm located in the selected location can generate about 59.7437, 90.4414, and 113.5075 GWh/y electricity by employing Gamesa G97/2000, GE Energy 2.75-120, and Senvion 3.4M140 wind turbines, respectively. Also, these wind farms can save approximately 22,110.80, 17,617.63, and 11,637.84 tons of CO2 emissions annually.


2013 ◽  
Vol 336-338 ◽  
pp. 1114-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhi Liu ◽  
Wen Xia Liu

This paper elaborates the effect of wind speed on the output power of the wind farms at different locations. It also describes the correction of the power curve and shows the comparison chart of the standard power curve and the power curve after correction. In China's inland areas, wind farms altitude are generally higher, the air density is much different from the standard air density. The effect of air density on wind power output must be considered during the wind farm design.


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