Volume 54

Coordinated Optimization of Wind Turbine Mechanical Loads and Power with Model Predictive Strategy Cheng Zhao, Lei Wang

Abstract

In desert, Gobi, and barren regions, while wind resources are abundant, the harsh environment presents challenges for the deployment of maintenance personnel and the safe operation of equipment. This significantly increases the maintenance costs of wind turbines(WTs). Therefore, a more effective control strategy is needed to reduce fatigue loads on critical components, thereby extending the lifespan of WTs and ensuring longer, safer operational periods. For WTs operating above rated wind speeds, wind shear, wake effects, and yaw movements can cause uneven mechanical loads on the turbine blades, resulting in power fluctuations. By adopting active load reduction technology, these uneven mechanical loads can be effectively minimized, thereby extending the turbine’s lifespan. This paper establishes a linearized model of the WT system to achieve coordinated optimization of mechanical load and power. A coordinate transformation is performed to obtain an independent pitch prediction model suitable for model predictive control (MPC). A multi-input-multi-output independent pitch model predictive controller for the WT is then designed. Comparisons between the proposed strategy and traditional gain scheduling PI controllers demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Keywords renewable energy, wind turbines, mechanical loads, model predictive control, independent pitch control