Characterising the Interaction between Dynamics Wake Mixing Techniques and Floating Wind Turbines

Wind energy has the potential to accelerate the transition from a carbon-based to a carbonfree energy supply system. This transition is essential in the ongoing global effort to combat the growing impacts of climate change. Due to the availability, as well as the increasingly competitive cost, the wind energy industry has enjoyed rapid growth in terms of installed wind capacity. Where the first onshore wind farm was composed of nearly 5000 turbines in 1980, with a capacity of 576 MW the current largest offshore wind farm in development has a design capacity of 1400 MW with only 100 turbines. Almost all offshore wind farms currently in operation, under construction, or in the planning phase are designed with bottom-fixed turbines and are in relatively shallow water.

The total available wind energy capacity increases significantly when deeper waters can also be accessed by wind turbines and wind farms. For these areas, floating wind turbine technology will play an essential role. When they are deployed in similarly sized wind farms as bottom-fixed wind farms they will also encounter challenges currently faced by these bottom-fixed farms. One of these challenges is the wake interaction between turbines, a cause of significant efficiency losses for a wind farm. The field of wind farm flow control aims to develop a control solution that can alleviate the negative effects of the wake interaction between turbines...