Investigation and assessment of the benefits for power systems from wind farm control

As wind turbines are increasingly situated in large arrays offshore, connected to power grids by a single long cable, it is necessary to consider the operation of the whole wind farm as a single plant rather than as a series of individual units. To achieve this, the development of advanced wind farm modelling software is required to test and evaluate new control strategies for wind farm operation. This thesis considers the use of Strathfarm, The University of Strathclyde’s in-house wind farm modelling software, presenting novel wind farm control algorithms which significantly reduce the fatigue of wind turbine towers and wind turbine blades. The thesis also further develops Strathfarm in two key areas, presenting improvements to the modelled wakes and also details the development of a novel power system model. The power system model can be used to show the efficacy of previously developed dispatch algorithms for wind farms to support power grids.As wind turbines are increasingly situated in large arrays offshore, connected to power grids by a single long cable, it is necessary to consider the operation of the whole wind farm as a single plant rather than as a series of individual units. To achieve this, the development of advanced wind farm modelling software is required to test and evaluate new control strategies for wind farm operation. This thesis considers the use of Strathfarm, The University of Strathclyde’s in-house wind farm modelling software, presenting novel wind farm control algorithms which significantly reduce the fatigue of wind turbine towers and wind turbine blades. The thesis also further develops Strathfarm in two key areas, presenting improvements to the modelled wakes and also details the development of a novel power system model. The power system model can be used to show the efficacy of previously developed dispatch algorithms for wind farms to support power grids