An unrestricted placement of wind turbines toward maximizing the energy output using teacher-artificial bee colony algorithm

Abstract

The wind farm layout optimization (WFLO) is a problem that helps to alter the position of wind turbines and arrange in such a way that the assembly of the turbines has reduced wake effect which improves the power output and overall efficiency of a wind farm. In the present study, a novel optimization tool, Teacher-ABC (T-ABC) algorithm has been developed using the prior knowledge of artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm and teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO). The newly developed algorithm has been used to determine the optimized position of turbines in a wind farm to obtain maximum possible power output and improved overall efficiency for a given set of turbines. The present study considers the unrestricted placement of the turbines in a wind farm. The paper discusses the results of the algorithm for two cases; in the first case, for a given wind velocity the directions are assumed to be identical while in the second case for a given wind velocity the wind directions are assumed to be erratic. The results suggest an improved performance in view of reduced wake effect that has increased the wind velocity and thereby the power output of the wind farm. The present approach is seen to better alternative for the positioning of turbines in a farm compared to the conventional grid-based approach.