Posters

Abstract

Nowadays hybrid Wind-PV power plants are becoming more and more popular. Even when not directly interconnected, neighboring PVs and Wind plants can affect each other's energy production. The present work focuses on the evaluation of the aerodynamic effects of a PV plant on the wind field and its impact on the energy production of neighboring or co-located wind farms. A specific case study of co-located PV and Wind plants has been chosen to study the phenomena. A series of CFD (RANS) studies were carried out on the area of interest by simulating the presence of the PV panels with an equivalent roughness length and with a canopy model. In the former approach, the equivalent roughness length has been accounted by referencing to previous works, PIGUET et al. In the latter, a layer of computational cells provides a resistive force, proportional to the squared wind speed and function of the height of the canopy itself and of an equivalent value of Leaf Area Index applied to the PV array. An extensive number of tests has been run to estimate the sensitivity of the methods for several setting parameters as the roughness length at the inlet,; the drag coefficient at the canopy; and the roughness length applied to the inner area of the domain. The sensitivity study continued with the analysis of the flow field for three versions of the k-epsilon turbulence model: the standard version with two sets of constants, the RNG and YAP-corrected. Moreover, it has been also evaluated the sensitivity of the model to the application of turbulence sources within the canopy, according to the theory proposed by Katul et al. (2004). The effect of PV plant perturbation on the wind field has been analyzed in terms of several flow characteristics: wind deficit evaluated at hub height and as Rotor Equivalent Wind Speed (REWS), wind shear, Turbulence Intensity, inflow angle and wind veer. Both the methods, only with an equivalent roughness and with a canopy model, can be used to evaluate the aerodynamic effects of the PV panels on the close turbines both in terms of production and suitability. Katul, G.G., Mahrt, L., Poggi, D. & Sanz, C. "ONE- AND TWO-EQUATION MODELS FOR CANOPY TURBULENCE." Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, No.113, pp81-109, 2004. Grégory PIGUET, José Leopoldo MAZA, Jose Miguel BALLESTA ANDONAEGUI, Alessandro INCALZA, Gaspar INIESTA MORA, Philippe LOISEAU. COMBINING SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS AND WIND FARMS: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE SYNERGIC DESIGN. ENEL GREEN POWER.