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Wind farm energy loss factors
When WFDT have been used to predict the output of a wind farm, it is necessary to estimate or calculate a range of potential sources of energy loss. There may be considered to be six main sources of energy loss for wind farms; wake effect, availability, electrical efficiency, turbine performance, environmental losses and curtailments, each of which may be subdivided into more detailed loss factors.
A rather comprehensive list of potential losses is presented in Table 2.5 below. Several of the loss factors will not be relevant to most projects, but for completeness they are listed here. Following the table below, a description of each of the losses is provided. Wind farm availability and the influence of tree growth on energy production may be time-dependent factors. As the values in the table below are site specific, example values have not been presented, although in aggregate the total losses for a wind farm site would typically be in the 10 to 20% range.
Table 2.5 Comprehensive list of loss factors
Wind Farm Rated Power ##.# MW Gross Energy Output ##.# GWh/annum 1 Wake effect 1a Wake effect internal ##.# % 1b Wake effect external ##.# % 1c Future wake effect ##.# % 2 Availability 2a Turbine availability ##.# % 2b Balance of plant availability ##.# % 2c Grid availability ##.# % 3 Electrical efficiency 3a Operational electrical efficiency ##.# % 3b Wind farm consumption ##.# % 4 Turbine Performance 4a Generic power curve adjustment ##.# % 4b High wind speed hysteresis ##.# % 4c Site-specific power curve adjustment ##.# % 5 Environmental 5a Performance degradation – non-icing ##.# % 5b Performance degradation – icing ##.# % 5c Icing shutdown ##.# % 5d Temperature shutdown ##.# % 5e Site access ##.# % 5f Tree growth (may be time dependant) ##.# % 6 Curtailments 6a Wind sector management ##.# % 6b Grid curtailment ##.# % 6c Noise, visual and environmental curtailment ##.# % Net Energy Output ##.# GWh/annum
The loss factors used to estimate the derivation of the windfarm net energy output prediction are described below. For each loss factor, a general description is given.
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