Wind turbine main bearings often fail prematurely, creating costly maintenance challenges. This study examined how wake effects – where upstream turbines create disturbed airflow that impacts downstream turbines – affect bearing lifespans. Using computer simulations, we found that wake effects reduce bearing life by 16% on average. The direction of wake impact matters significantly due to interactions between wind forces and gravity, informing better wind turbine and farm farm design strategies.

Increasing the efficiency of wind farms can be achieved via reducing the impact of wakes: flow regions with lower wind speed occurring downwind from turbines. This work describes training and validation of a novel method for estimation of the wake effects impacting a turbine. The results show that for most tested wind conditions, the developed model is capable of robust detection of wake presence, and accurate characterisation of its properties. Further validation and improvements are planned.

This paper presents a systematic study of the effect of blade inclination angle, chord distribution, and blade length on vertical-axis wind turbine performance. It shows that, for rotors of identical power production, both blade volume and rotor torque can be significantly reduced through the use of aerodynamically optimised inclined rotor blades. This demonstrates the potential of vertical rotors to reduce the cost of energy for offshore wind when compared to horizontal rotors.

A parametric model for the wind direction rose is presented, with testing on real offshore wind farm data indicating the model is indeed representative. The presented model provides opportunities for standardisation and enables more systematic analyses of wind direction impacts and sensitivities.

This review presents the current understanding of wind direction variability in the context of control-oriented modelling of wind turbines and wind farms in a manner suitable to a wide audience. Motivation comes from the significant and commonly seen yaw error of horizontal axis wind turbines, which carries substantial negative impacts on annual energy production and the levellised cost of wind energy. Gaps in the literature are identified, and the critical challenges in this area are discussed.