Optimization of Wind Farm Design for Objectives beyond LCOE

Abstract

For wind farms that participate actively in electricity markets versus receiving a fixed kiloWatt-hour payment, design and operational objectives must go beyond the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) to account for system value and profitability of the farm over its lifetime. This work introduces "beyond LCOE"objectives for farm design and illustrates their impact in a multi-objective optimization case study for LCOE and value-based objectives. The case study shows that the best designs from an LCOE perspective are not those that have the highest value and vice versa. Thus, designing wind farms in the future will require new optimization approaches to address the broader system and market context to ensure overall profitability of the project.