Grants and Contributions:

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Title:

Assessing Consequences of Wind Turbine Active Power Control

Agreement Number:

EGP

Agreement Value:

$24,123.00

Agreement Date:

Mar 7, 2018 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

Prince Edward Island, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q4-00732

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recipient's Legal Name:

Hall, Matthew (University of Prince Edward Island)

Program:

Engage Grants for universities

Program Purpose:

This project aims to provide Canada's leading wind energy test site with the analysis tools needed to explorex000D
new strategies for wind farm operation. The Wind Energy Institute of Canada (WEICan) owns and operates ax000D
10 MW wind farm for power production and research purposes. A growing research interest is in active powerx000D
control, where turbine power output is adjusted on an ongoing basis to meet the fluctuating needs of the localx000D
electricity system. If wind farm output can be adjusted to help match minute-by-minute changes in demand orx000D
other generation, then wind farms can actually assist with stability of the power grid. However, changing ax000D
wind turbine's operation runs the risk of introducing additional structural loads and increasing wear and tear,x000D
ultimately reducing wind farm lifetime or increasing operating costs. Exploring active power control thereforex000D
requires a better understanding of the potential consequences. This is all the more true for a research institutionx000D
such as WEICan, which has interest in experimenting with new and innovative control strategies. To addressx000D
this, the UPEI team will develop simulation models of WEICan's wind turbines. These models will be tuned inx000D
collaboration with WEICan based on measurements of the existing turbines, and then put through differentx000D
scenarios that WEICan has interest in experimenting with. By analysing the simulation results in terms of windx000D
turbines forces and deflections, we can estimate the consequences on wind turbine health from variousx000D
operating strategies and under a range of environmental conditions. Ultimately, these results, and the newlyx000D
developed models used to produce them, will give WEICan insight into what active power control scenarios itx000D
can safely explore with its turbines, enabling future exploration and demonstration of novel wind turbinex000D
operating strategies.