In Rhythm with the Wind: Synchronized Wake Mixing in Wind Farms

As the world moves toward a fossil-free future, offshore wind energy has become a major driver of the global energy transition. In particular, the Dutch North Sea, with its steady wind conditions and relatively shallow waters, offers ideal conditions for large-scale wind farm deployment. Yet, as turbines are placed close together to optimize space, new technical challenges arise. One of the most critical of these is the wake effect, where turbines operating upstream in the wind flow create turbulent, low-velocity wakes that significantly reduce the power production and increase the fatigue damage on downstream turbines.

This dissertation, titled “In Rhythm with the Wind: Synchronized Wake Mixing in Wind Farms”, addresses this challenge by exploring how dynamic, synchronized control strategies can mitigate wake-induced losses and improve overall wind farm performance. This work goes beyond the conventional approach of turbines operating independently and instead investigates how coordinated turbine control can create new opportunities....