A Probabilistic Learning Approach Applied to the Optimization of Wake Steering in Wind Farms

Abstract

The wake steering control in wind farms has gained significant attention in the last years. This control strategy has shown promise to reduce energy losses due to wake effects and increase the energy production in a wind farm. However, wind conditions are variable in wind farms, and the measurements are uncertain what should be considered in the design of wake steering control strategies. This paper proposes using the probabilistic learning on manifold (PLoM), which can be viewed as a supervised machine learning method, to enable the wake steering optimization under uncertainty. The expected power generation is estimated considering uncertainties in wind speed and direction with good accuracy and reduced computational cost for two wind farm layouts, which expand the application of machine learning models in wake steering. Furthermore, the analysis shows the potential gain with the application of wake steering control.