A method for optimizing the operation of a wind turbine having a rotor with at least one rotor blade, a tower, and a wind turbine controller, comprises determining a first load status of the wind turbine based on metereological data acquired by sensors, including a turbulence intensity; determining a second load status of the wind turbine based on mechanical loads on at least one wind turbine component; and increasing a load of the wind turbine, if the determined first and second load status of the turbine are within selectable load limits. A wind turbine implementing the method is also disclosed.

A method and apparatus for applying optimized yaw settings to wind turbines including receiving operating data from at least one wind turbine on a wind farm and sending the data to a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system on the at least one wind turbine to generate current SCADA data. The current SCADA data is sent a central processing center away from the wind farm. The central processing center includes an optimization system that can generate a new look up table (LUT) including at least one new wind turbine yaw setting calculated using information comprising wind direction, wind velocity, wind turbine location in the wind farm, information from a historic SCADA database, and yaw optimizing algorithms. The new LUT is then sent to a yaw setting selection engine (YSSE) where instructions regarding the use of the new LUT are generated.

A method for controlling the operation of a wind turbine may generally include monitoring a current yaw position of a nacelle of the wind turbine, wherein the current yaw position is located within one of a plurality of yaw sectors defined for the nacelle. In addition, the method may include monitoring a wind-dependent parameter of the wind turbine and determining a variance of the wind-dependent parameter over time, wherein the variance is indicative of variations in a wind parameter associated with the wind turbine. Moreover, the method may include determining at least one curtailed operating setpoint for the wind turbine when the variance exceeds a predetermined variance threshold, wherein the curtailed operating setpoint(s) is determined based at least in part on historical wind data for the yaw sector associated with the current yaw position.

Provided are a feedforward control method, apparatus and control system for a wind turbine. The feedforward control method includes: acquiring, by means of a remote sensing measurement apparatus, inflowing wind information of a plurality of spatial point positions in front of a wind turbine, wherein the plurality of spatial points are distributed in a plurality of different cross sections, and the distances between the plurality of different cross sections and the wind turbine are different; combining the acquired inflowing wind information into a target wind velocity; predicting, on the basis of the combined target wind velocity, incoming flow arrival time required for inflowing wind at a target point to arrive at an impeller plane; and performing feedforward control on the wind turbine according to the predicted incoming flow arrival time.

A method for controlling a wind turbine, the wind turbine having a generator with controllable generator torque and an aerodynamic rotor with rotor blades with adjustable pitch angle, the aerodynamic rotor driving the generator with variable rotor speed depending on a wind speed, comprising the steps operating the wind turbine in a subrated mode when the wind speed is below a predetermined rated wind speed, operating the wind turbine in a rated mode when the wind speed is at or above the predetermined rated wind speed, estimating the wind speed and operating the wind turbine in subrated mode or in rated mode in dependence on the estimated wind speed.

A method of operating a power generating system for a wind turbine connected to an electrical grid, the power generating system comprising a power generator, a converter, a transformer and a tap changer, the method comprising; monitoring a signal for detecting a voltage in the electrical grid which requires an increase in output voltage from the power generating system; determining a partial-load condition of the converter, which corresponds to the converter being configured to output a voltage which is substantially below its maximum output voltage; and upon determining the partial-load condition, operating the tap changer to tap down the transformer, and operating the converter to provide the required increase in output voltage from the power generating system.

A method of operating a wind turbine is provided. A controller is configured to activate or deactivate each of two or more distinct control features, each control feature changing the operating characteristic of the wind turbine and having an impact on at least one of lifetime and energy production . The method includes determining a type of optimization parameter and an optimization target for the optimization parameter, wherein the optimization parameter is related to at least one of lifetime or energy production of the wind turbine. The method further performs one or more optimization steps, wherein each optimization step is performed for a different combination of activation states of the two or more control features. Based on the one or more optimization steps, an optimal combination of activation states of the two or more control features for which the estimated optimization parameter achieves the optimization target is determined.

A method and an apparatus for controlling wind turbine power. The method includes: determining a compensation value for target active power based on a power difference between a net grid-connected power and the target active power; determining a setpoint value of active power based on the target active power and the compensation value; and performing a current-varying control and a pitch control based on the setpoint value of active power.

A method for operating a wind turbine is provided. The wind turbine has a tower with external tower loads acting thereon and has an aerodynamic rotor with rotor blades having adjustable pitch angles, which rotor generates rotor thrust. The method comprises the following steps: determining a speed of a tower head of the tower and/or of a nacelle of the wind turbine, determining an absolute wind speed in the region of the wind turbine, determining a pure wind power on the rotor on the basis of the absolute wind speed, determining an apparent wind power on the rotor on the basis of the speed of the tower head and/or of the nacelle, determining an aerodynamic tower vibration power on the basis of a difference between the apparent wind power and the pure wind power, and performing feedback control of the wind turbine using the aerodynamic tower vibration power.

A system and method are provided for operating a power generating asset. Accordingly, a controller detects a fault condition impacting the power generating asset. The controller then determines whether the fault condition is occurring in the power generating asset or is occurring in the power grid. When the fault condition is occurring in the power generating asset, a first response control scheme is implemented. However, when the fault condition is occurring in the power grid, a second response control scheme is implemented. The response control schemes include a first current threshold and a second current threshold respectively, with first current threshold being less than the second current threshold. Additionally, a control action is implemented in response to an approach of a current to the respective current threshold.