Nacelle lidars with different beam scanning locations and two types of systems are considered for inflow turbulence estimations using both numerical simulations and field measurements. The turbulence estimates from a sonic anemometer at the hub height of a Vestas V52 turbine are used as references. The turbulence parameters are retrieved using the radial variances and a least-squares procedure. The findings from numerical simulations have been verified by the analysis of the field measurements.

The paper presents a new method in which wind turbines in a wind farm act as local sensors, in this way detecting the flow that develops within the power plant. Through this technique, we are able to identify effects on the flow generated by the plant itself and by the orography of the terrain. The new method not only delivers a flow model of much improved quality but can also help in understanding phenomena that drive the farm performance.

Mobile offshore wind energy systems are a potential way of producing green fuels from the untapped wind resource that lies far offshore. Herein, computational models of two such systems were developed and verified. The models are able to predict the power output of each system based on wind condition inputs. Results show that both systems have merits and that, contrary to existing results, unmoored floating wind turbines may produce as much power as fixed ones, given the right conditions.

The optimal misalignment angles for wake steering are determined using wake models. Although mostly analytical, data-driven models have recently shown promising results. This study validates a previously proposed data-driven model with results from a field experiment using lidar measurements. In a comparison with a state-of-the-art analytical model, it shows systematically more accurate estimates of the available power. Also when using only commonly available input data, it gives good results.

A novel data-driven method is proposed to design an optimal sensor network for the reconstruction of offshore wind resources. Based on unsupervised learning of numerical weather prediction wind data, it provides a simple yet efficient method for the siting of sensors, outperforming state-of-the-art methods for this application. It is applied in the main French offshore wind energy development areas to provide guidelines for the deployment of floating lidars for wind resource assessment.

This work studies the energy production and wake losses of large offshore wind farms with a large-eddy simulation model. Therefore, 1 year of actual weather has been simulated for a suite of hypothetical 4 GW wind farm scenarios. The results suggest that production numbers increase significantly when the rated power of the individual turbines is larger while keeping the total installed capacity the same. Also, a clear impact of atmospheric stability on the energy production is found.

Benefits of orientating a three-legged offshore wind jacket relative to the metocean conditions for pile design are assessed considering the International Energy Agency 15 MW reference turbine and a reference site off the coast of Massachusetts. Results, based on the considered conditions, show that the pile design can be optimized by orientating the jacket relative to the dominant wave direction. This design optimization can be used on offshore wind projects to provide cost and risk reductions.

Offshore wind farms are more commonly installed in wind farm clusters, where wind farm interaction can lead to energy losses. In this work, an efficient numerical method is presented that can be used to estimate these energy losses. The novel method is verified with higher-fidelity numerical models and validated with measurements of an existing wind farm cluster.

Wind turbines placed in farms interact with their wake, lowering the power production of the wind farm. This can be mitigated using so-called wake mixing techniques. This work investigates the coupling between the pulse wake mixing technique and the motion of floating wind turbines using the pulse. Frequency response experiments and time domain simulations show that extra movement is undesired and that the optimal excitation frequency is heavily platform dependent.

This work compares eight optimization algorithms (including gradient-based, gradient-free, and hybrid) on a wind farm optimization problem with 4 discrete regions, concave boundaries, and 81 wind turbines. Algorithms were each run by researchers experienced with that algorithm. Optimized layouts were unique but with similar annual energy production. Common characteristics included tightly-spaced turbines on the outer perimeter and turbines loosely spaced and roughly on a grid in the interior.