A METHOD FOR PLANNING REPOWERING OF A WIND ENERGY PLANT

Abstract

A method for planning repowering of a wind energy plant is disclosed. The wind energy plant is positioned at a site and comprises a plurality of original wind turbines arranged at distributed positions within the site. Historical data related to the original wind turbines is retrieved. The historical data is collected over a previous time period and during operation of the original wind turbines. Meteorological conditions at the site of the wind energy plant are estimated based on the retrieved historical data. The repowering of the wind energy plant is planned based on the estimated meteorological data, including planning replacement of the original wind turbines by replacement wind turbines to be positioned at the positions of the original wind turbines.

Claims

1. A method for planning repowering of a wind energy plant positioned at a site, the wind energy plant comprising a plurality of original wind turbines arranged at distributed positions within the site, the method comprising: retrieving historical data related to the original wind turbines, the historical data being collected over a previous time period and during operation of the original wind turbines; estimating meteorological conditions at the site of the wind energy plant, based on the retrieved historical data; and planning repowering of the wind energy plant, based on the estimated meteorological data, including planning replacement of the original wind turbines by replacement wind turbines to be positioned at the positions of the original wind turbines.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating expected performance of the replacement wind turbines based on the retrieved historical data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the estimating expected performance of the replacement wind turbines comprises estimating an expected power production of the replacement wind turbines.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the estimating expected performance of the replacement wind turbines comprises estimating expected loads on the replacement wind turbines.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the planning repowering of the wind energy plant comprises, for at least one of the replacement wind turbines, selecting a wind turbine type and/or one or more design parameters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the retrieving data related to wind turbines of one or more neighbouring wind energy plants located in the vicinity of the wind energy plant, and wherein the estimating meteorological conditions is further based on the data related to the wind turbines of the neighbouring wind energy plant(s).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical data related to the original wind turbines comprises sensor measurements performed by one or more sensors of the original wind turbines.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating meteorological conditions comprises deriving an expected wind field at the site.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical data related to the original wind turbines is retrieved from a data storage.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of replacing the original wind turbines with replacement wind turbines in accordance with the planned repowering.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the planning repowering of the wind energy plant comprises planning to reuse one or more parts of the original wind turbines in one or more of the replacement wind turbines.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0047] The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0048] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the invention, and

[0049] FIG. 2 illustrates a wind energy plant to be repowered in accordance with a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the invention. Historical data related to original wind turbines of a wind energy plant to be repowered has been collected over a previous time period, and during operation of the original wind turbines. The historical data comprises information required for operating the original wind turbines during the previous time period, as well as information regarding how the original wind turbines have operated, and prevailing wind conditions. Thus, the historical data provides detailed information related to operation of the original wind turbines within the wind energy plant, and to the operating conditions which the original wind turbines have been subjected to within their operating time. The historical data may be collected using a data acquisition system, and stored in a data storage 1.

[0051] At the time when it is decided to perform repowering, the historical data is retrieved from the data storage 1 and provided to a meteorological model 2. Based on the retrieved historical data, the meteorological model 2 estimates meteorological conditions at the site of the wind energy plant. The meteorological model 2 may, e.g., be a model specifying correlation between power production of the original wind turbines and the prevailing meteorological conditions at the site of the wind energy plant. Alternatively or additionally, the model may specify terrain of the site, in which case the meteorological model 2 is a model of the physical features, such as elevation, roughness, slope, hills, ridges, valleys, saddles, cliffs, vegetation, etc., of the site. The estimated meteorological conditions at the site may, thus, be an expected forecast of the meteorological conditions at the site of the wind energy plant for a future time period. Thus, the estimated meteorological conditions provide detailed information regarding the expected behaviour of, e.g., the wind conditions for the site.

[0052] The estimated meteorological conditions for the site are provided from the meteorological model 2 to a repowering planner 3. The repowering planner 3 plans the replacement of the original wind turbines within the wind energy plant by replacement wind turbines to be positioned at positions of the original wind turbines. Thus, the repowering planner 3 derives a plan that specifies how original wind turbines of the wind energy plant are to be replaced by replacement turbines, and possibly which types of wind turbines to use. Since the estimated meteorological conditions are based on data for the same site, the planning is performed on a more precise foundation than would be the case if the data had been obtained at another geographical location.

[0053] FIG. 2 illustrates a wind energy plant 4 to be repowered in accordance with a method according to an embodiment of the invention. The wind energy plant 4 is positioned at a site and comprises a plurality of original wind turbines 5 arranged at distributed positions within the site. During operation of the original wind turbines 5, historical data related to the original wind turbines 5 is collected, in order to properly control the wind turbines 5.

[0054] Repowering of the wind energy plant 4 is planned by planning to replace the original wind turbines 5 with replacement wind turbines which are to be positioned at the positions of the original wind turbines 5. When planning the repowering of the wind energy plant 4, meteorological conditions at the site is estimated, based on the historical data, and the planning is performed based thereon, e.g. in the manner described above with reference to FIG. 1.

[0055] The estimated meteorological conditions may, e.g., reveal a dominating wind direction 6. Planning the repowering of the wind energy plant 4 may, thus, include selecting different wind turbine types for different positions within the wind energy plant 4. For instance, wind turbine 5a which are arranged upstream along the dominating wind direction 6, may be provided with a smaller rotor diameter than wind turbines 5b which are arranged downstream along the dominating wind direction 6. Thereby it is ensured that the upstream wind turbines 5a do not extract so much energy from the wind that the downstream wind turbines 5b are unable to operate properly.