Wind Farm Components

Wind Farm Components#

Wind_MesoToPower#

Wind_MesoToPower is a comprehensive wind farm simulator that focuses on meso-scale phenomena by applying a separate wind speed time signal to each turbine model derived from data. It combines FLORIS wake modeling with detailed turbine dynamics for long-term wind farm performance analysis.

Wind_MesoToPowerPrecomFloris#

Wind_MesoToPowerPrecomFloris is an optimized variant of Wind_MesoToPower that pre-computes FLORIS wake deficits for improved simulation performance. This approach trades some accuracy for significant speed improvements in specific operating scenarios.

Overview#

Both wind farm components integrate FLORIS for wake effects with individual turbine models to simulate wind farm behavior over extended periods. They support both simple filter-based turbine models and 1-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) turbine dynamics.

Precomputed FLORIS Approach#

Wind_MesoToPowerPrecomFloris pre-computes wake deficits using a fixed cadence determined by floris_update_time_s. At initialization, FLORIS is evaluated at that cadence using right-aligned time-window averages of wind speed, wind direction, and turbulence intensity. The resulting wake deficits are then held constant between evaluations and applied to the per-turbine inflow time series.

This approach is valid when the wind farm operates under these conditions:

  • All turbines operating normally

  • All turbines off

  • Following a wind-farm wide derating level

Important: This model is not appropriate when turbines are partially derated below the curtailment level or not uniformly curtailed. In such cases, use the standard Wind_MesoToPower class instead.

Configuration#

Common Required Parameters#

Required parameters for both components in h_dict (see timing for time-related parameters):

  • floris_input_file: FLORIS farm configuration

  • wind_input_filename: Wind resource data file

  • turbine_file_name: Turbine model configuration

Wind_MesoToPower Specific Parameters#

Required parameters for Wind_MesoToPower:

  • floris_update_time_s: How often to update FLORIS (the last floris_update_time_s seconds are averaged as input)

  • log_channels: List of output channels to log. See Logging Configuration section below for details.

Wind_MesoToPowerPrecomFloris Specific Parameters#

Required parameters for Wind_MesoToPowerPrecomFloris:

  • floris_update_time_s: Determines the cadence of wake precomputation. At each cadence tick, the last floris_update_time_s seconds are averaged and used to evaluate FLORIS. The computed wake deficits are then applied until the next cadence tick.

  • log_channels: List of output channels to log. See Logging Configuration section below for details.

Turbine Models#

Filter Model#

Simple first-order filter for power output smoothing with configurable time constants.

1-DOF Model#

Advanced model with rotor dynamics, pitch control, and generator torque control.

Outputs#

Common Outputs#

Both components provide these outputs in the h_dict at each simulation step:

  • power: Total wind farm power (kW)

  • turbine_powers: Individual turbine power outputs (array, kW)

  • turbine_power_setpoints: Current power setpoint values (array, kW)

  • wind_speed_mean_background: Farm-average background wind speed (m/s)

  • wind_speed_mean_withwakes: Farm-average with-wakes wind speed (m/s)

  • wind_direction_mean: Farm-average wind direction (degrees)

  • wind_speeds_background: Per-turbine background wind speeds (array, m/s)

  • wind_speeds_withwakes: Per-turbine with-wakes wind speeds (array, m/s)

Logging Configuration#

The log_channels parameter controls which outputs are written to the HDF5 output file. This is a list of channel names. The power channel is always logged, even if not explicitly specified.

Available Channels#

Scalar Channels:

  • power: Total wind farm power output (kW)

  • wind_speed_mean_background: Farm-average background wind speed (m/s)

  • wind_speed_mean_withwakes: Farm-average with-wakes wind speed (m/s)

  • wind_direction_mean: Farm-average wind direction (degrees)

Array Channels:

  • turbine_powers: Power output for all turbines (creates datasets like wind_farm.turbine_powers.000, wind_farm.turbine_powers.001, etc.)

  • turbine_power_setpoints: Power setpoints for all turbines

  • wind_speeds_background: Background wind speeds for all turbines

  • wind_speeds_withwakes: With-wakes wind speeds for all turbines

Selective Array Element Logging#

For large wind farms, logging all turbine data can significantly increase file size and slow down the simulation. You can log specific turbine indices by appending a 3-digit turbine index to the channel name:

# Log only turbines 0, 5, and 10
log_channels:
  - power
  - wind_speed_mean_background
  - wind_speed_mean_withwakes
  - wind_direction_mean
  - turbine_powers.000
  - turbine_powers.005
  - turbine_powers.010

Example Configurations#

Minimal Logging:

log_channels:
  - power
  - wind_speed_mean_background
  - wind_speed_mean_withwakes
  - wind_direction_mean

Detailed Logging (all turbines):

log_channels:
  - power
  - wind_speed_mean_background
  - wind_speed_mean_withwakes
  - wind_direction_mean
  - turbine_powers
  - wind_speeds_withwakes

Selected Turbine Logging:

# Log first 3 turbines only
log_channels:
  - power
  - wind_speed_mean_background
  - wind_speed_mean_withwakes
  - wind_direction_mean
  - turbine_powers.000
  - turbine_powers.001
  - turbine_powers.002
Contents