Optimal placement of wind turbines in a windfarm using L-SHADE algorithm

Abstract

Setting of turbines in a windfarm is a complex task as several factors need to be taken into consideration. During recent years, researchers have applied various evolutionary algorithms to windfarm layout problem by converting it to a single objective and at the most two objective optimization problem. The prime factor governing placement of turbines is the wake effect attributed to the loss of kinetic energy by wind after it passes over a turbine. Downstream turbine inside the wake region generates less output power. Optimizing the wake loss helps extract more power out of the wind. The cost of turbine is tactically entwined with generated output to form single objective of cost per unit of output power e.g. cost/kW. This paper proposes an application of L-SHADE algorithm, an advanced form of Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm, to minimize the objective cost/kW. SHADE is a success history based parameter adaptation technique of DE. L-SHADE improves the performance of SHADE with linearly reducing the population size in successive generations. DE has historically been used mainly for optimization of continuous variables. The present study suggests an approach of using algorithm L-SHADE in discrete location optimization problem. Case studies of varying wind directions with constant and variable wind speeds have been performed and results are compared with some of the previous studies.