Evaluation of wind farm effects on fatigue loads of an individual wind turbine at the EnBW Baltic 1 offshore wind farm

Abstract

Turbulence in wake has special interest due to its strong connection with increment of fatigue loads. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the wind farm effects on fatigue loads of an individual wind turbine at the EnBW Baltic 1 offshore wind farm and compare the results with the statements suggested by IEC 61400-1 ed. 3 [1]. From measurements, the study provides strong evidence that considerable wake effects up to 15 rotor diameters (D) downstream are related to the increase of fatigue loads in the analyzed turbine. The influence of the behavior of the upstream wind turbine's thrust coefficient (CT) can be observed in the analyzed curves for turbulence intensity and damage equivalent loads (DELs) in blade root flapwise and edgewise direction.