The change of power curves as a function of

various meteorological parameters

Master Thesis
in Atmospheric Sciences

Submitted to the
Faculty of Geo- and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Innsbruck

for the Degree of

Master of Science

by
Katharina Eichhorn

Advisor
ao. Univ. - Prof. Mag. Dr. Georg Mayr

Innsbruck, September 2013

Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to determine to what extent meteorological parameters, such as
temperature and density, atmospheric stability, turbulence, wind shear and precipitation,
can aect the power production of wind turbines.
Using two dierent methods, it turned out that the production of power at high tem-
peratures respectively low densities from a wind speed of 8 m/s, greatly diers from the
reference power curve, despite the density correction. The explanatory mechanism for the
high temperature dependence is the behaviour of the air foil and the approach to the crit-
ical Reynolds number. Thus, at high temperatures, it comes to partial separation eects
and a signicant power reduction. This can possibly be prevented by vortex generators, a
higher rotational speed or a sensitive routine.
Considering the relative humidity and the turbulence intensity, there were no clear dis-
tinctive and suciently large deviations from the reference. However, the stability of the
atmosphere and the wind shear gave signicant indications of an eect on production. At
high temperatures, a marked dierence to the reference was shown at unstable stratica-
tion, less wind shear with high turbulence intensity.
In comparison, the production at the same temperature, but at stable stratication, was
signicantly higher. This suggests that the thermally induced turbulence (atmospheric
stratication) and mechanical turbulence (wind shear) have a noticeable impact on the
performance curves and can explain some deviations from the reference curve.
During precipitation, two behaviours became clear. If it rains at cool temperatures,
production is reduced; however, precipitation at high temperatures improves production.
Therefore, the aerodynamic characteristics of the blade are mechanically changed by pre-
cipitation, with the result that the power curve is aected.

i
Zusammenfassung
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es herauszunden ob und in welchem Ma meteorologische Gren,
wie Temperatur bzw. Dichte, atmosphrische Stabilitt, Turbulenz, Windscherung und
Niederschlag, die Leistungsproduktion von Windkraftanlagen beeinussen knnen.
Es stellte sich mittels zwei unterschiedlichen Methoden heraus, dass die Produktion der
Leistung bei hohen Temperaturen bzw. niedrigen Dichten ab einer Windgeschwindigkeiten
von 8m/s, trotz Dichtekorrektur, sehr stark von der Referenzleistungskurve abweicht. Der
erklrende Mechanismus fr die hohe Temperaturabhngigkeit ist das Verhalten des Flgel-
prols und die Annherung an die kritische Reynoldszahl. Bei hohen Temperaturen kommt
es zu partiellen Ablseeekten und eine deutlichen Leistungsminderung welche durch Vor-
texgeneratoren, einer hheren Drehzahl oder einer sensibleren Routine verhindert werden
knnte.
Bei der Betrachtung der relativen Feuchte und der Turbulenzintensitt wurden keine
markanten und gengend groen Abweichungen zur Referenz deutlich. Wohingegen die
Stabilitt der Atmosphre und die Windscherung eindeutige Hinweise auf einen Eekt auf
die Produktion gaben. Bei hohen Temperaturen zeigten sich markante Abweichungen zur
Referenz bei einer unstabilen Schichtung, kleiner Windscherung mit hoher Turbulenzin-
tensitt. Im Vergleich dazu ist die Produktion bei gleicher Temperatur aber in stabiler
Schichtung deutlich hher. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die thermisch induzierte Turbu-
lenz (atmosphrische Stabilitt) sowie die mechanische Turbulenz (Windscherung) einen
sprbaren Einuss auf die Leistungskurven haben und eine gewisse Abweichungen zur
Referenzkurve erklren knnen.
Beim Niederschlag wurden zwei Verhalten deutlich. Regnet es bei khlen Temperaturen
ist die Produktion verringert, fllt jedoch bei hohen Temperaturen Niederschlag verbessert
sich die Leistungsproduktion. Durch Niederschlag werden demnach die aerodynamischen
Eigenschaften am Blattprol mechanisch gendert, sodass die Leistungskurve beeinusst
wird.

iii
Contents

Abstract i

Zusammenfassung iii

1. Introduction & Motivation 1

2. Theory of wind and wind turbines 3

2.1. Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Wind turbines and wind energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3. Rotor blade aerodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4. Wind power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5. Power curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3. Meteorological parameters 11
3.1. Wind (speed and direction) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2. Turbulence intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3. Air temperature / pressure / density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4. Wind shear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.5. Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4. Site description 19

5. Data 23
5.1. Data overview: sources and periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2. Data from the turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.3. Measurement and met mast data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.4. Data quality control and post processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

6. Analysis 29
6.1. Multiple linear regression model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.2. Power curve analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.2.1. Wind speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.2.2. Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.2.3. Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.2.4. Relative humidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.5. Turbulence intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

v
 Contents

6.2.6. Atmospheric stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

6.2.7. Wind shear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.8. Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.2.9. Summary of analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

7. Discussion & Conclusion 43

A. Appendix 49

List of Figures 51

List of Tables 55

Bibliography 57

Acknowledgements 61

Curriculum Vitae 63

Eidesstattliche Erklrung 65

vi
1. Introduction & Motivation
This thesis is a combination of atmospheric science and wind energy. A wind turbine
produces electricity depending on wind speed and air density. Each turbine type has
a calibrated function transforming wind speed into produced power, the so-called power
curve. This power curve diers from this curve as much as shown in gure 1.1.
Meteorological data and technical data are analysed and conclusions are drawn for the
use of wind turbines under certain conditions. Above all, the question should be raised
which eects are responsible for deviations of the previously calculated performance.

Figure 1.1.: Produced power as a function of wind speed for India2: reference power curve
for this turbine type (black line), 10 minutes mean values (blue points) and
wind speed class averaged power production (red line). Eects of density are
corrected and the nacelle transfer function was carried out. Period: 01/2011
to 12/2012.

In addition to technical aspects such as the turbine control, meteorological parameters

are responsible if the predicted performance cannot be provided.
There are specications of the turbines such as electrical power and revolutions per
minute (RPM), and meteorological values like wind speed, temperature, air pressure and
turbulence intensity with externally provided data, vertical temperature stratication, pre-
cipitation intensity and relative humidity taken and analysed together. The result is an
estimation of the interference on the power production of a wind turbine for the following
parameters:

1
 Introduction & Motivation

air temperature and density

precipitation (rain / heavy rain (monsoon))
atmospheric stratication
turbulence
wind shear
particles (aerosols, dust, oil, grease, insects, pollen, ...)

It is important to note that all shown performance and expected energy data come from
sections of the entire period and have no nal character, but are qualied to analyse the
inuence of several meteorological parameters on the power curve. Something that should
not happen is that actually produced power diers from this curve as much as shown in
gure 1.1. This requires an explanation and also has serious nancial consequences.

2
2. Theory of wind and wind turbines
2.1. Wind
Wind is a kind of solar energy. The variability of insolation aects uctuations of the
atmospheric pressure. Over hot areas there are high pressure and over cold places there
are low pressure areas. These large scale dierences in air pressure cause a compensatory
movement, the wind. (Emeis, 2013) The wind is moving over the ground is strongly
slowed down by friction. However, the inuence of friction decreases with height. The air
movement which are not inuenced by the bottom friction called geostrophic wind. The
layer between the bottom and geostrophic wind is referred to as atmospheric boundary
layer (gure 2.1), which is dependent on the surface friction, surface roughness and vertical
distribution of temperature and pressure. In this layer there is still a strong gradient of
wind speed which is leading to momentum exchange and a turbulent mass exchange in the
higher atmospheric layers. (Burton et al., 2011)

Figure 2.1.: Simplied representation of the atmospheric boundary layer. [Figure from
Gasch and Twele (2005) has been modied by author.]

The height of the boundary layer varies depending on weather conditions, in cold, clear
nights it is about 100 m and on hot summer days with low wind speeds is more than 2 km
thick. Wind turbines operates in the lowest 10 % of the boundary layer, the near-ground
boundary layer and are thus exposed to varying conditions.
Beside the global wind system with Rosby and Hadley circulation, local air stream is

3
 Theory of wind and wind turbines

crucial for wind turbines. Local winds are also caused by potential dierences, which were
mainly caused by dierences in temperature. The main local wind systems are the land-sea
circulation and the mountain-valley circulation.
The land-sea circulation is a daily periodic wind system and can aect the wind speed
and turbulence intensity at the coast till 250 km into the inland. The potential dierences
which compensates the wind, caused by the dierent heating of ground and water. During
the day, the country is heated faster than the water, while at night the sea surface cools
more slowly than the land. This results in a landward wind during the day and oshore
wind in the late afternoon and evening. (Hckel, 2005)
At the mountain breeze and valley breeze, the mountain slopes are heated after sunrise,
resulting in an updraft on the slopes. Cold air enters from outside and generate a valley
oriented wind. After sunset reduce the slope and valley winds and disappear. During the
night the mountain tops cool faster than the valley ground or surrounding air. The colder
and denser air ows down the slope into the valley and thus provides a valley facing wind.
(Hckel, 2005)
Important for the wind at hub height (60 to 80 m above ground) are the local conditions,
such as surface character, topography and the vertical wind prole for each location of the
wind turbine. If the turbine is, e.g. on a hill, the wind is accelerated and induced at
low altitude over ground relatively high wind speeds. A large gradient of the hill aects
a negative eect on the vertical wind prole, by the wind gradient does not change at a
certain level and generate low wind speeds (gure 2.2a). (Gasch and Twele, 2005)
Is a wind turbine in a small distance to an obstacle (gure 2.2b), such as a forest, the
wind is slowed down at the lower edge of the rotor. The magnitude of the deceleration is
dependent on the distance and the height of the obstacle. Again, a negative change of the
wind prole can be observed. (Gasch and Twele, 2005)

(a) (b)

Figure 2.2.: Vertical wind prole with (a) large ground slope and (b) with obstacles. (Gasch
and Twele, 2005)

4
2.2 Wind turbines and wind energy

2.2. Wind turbines and wind energy

Wind turbines are energy converters. Kinetic energy will be transformed into mechanical
rotational energy which will be converted into electrical power. (Gasch and Twele, 2005)
The conversion of kinetic energy to mechanical energy is done by the rotor via rotor
blades, which are installed at the nacelle. The generator, which converts the mechanical
into electrical energy, is located in the nacelle. This nacelle is on a tower which is secured
to the ground with a solid foundation.
The turbines for this analysis are identical with a 65 m hub height and 38 m long blades,
see gure 2.3. The nominal power will be reached at a wind speed of 14 m/s. Furthermore,
the analysed turbines are pitch1 regulated.

Figure 2.3.: Schematic representation of a wind turbine with dimensions of the ones used
in this thesis. [Figure from Lundquist (2010) has been modied by author.]

2.3. Rotor blade aerodynamics

In order to convert the energy of wind into electrical energy, the aerodynamic principle of
buoyancy is used. The blades resemble wings of airplanes in its operation. The lift is a
force that comes from the ow onto a prole and is perpendicular to the ow direction.
(Molly, 1990)
1
Blade angle adjustment of rotor blades.

5
 Theory of wind and wind turbines

Figure 2.4.: Aerodynamic blade geometry with lift respectively drag vectors and angle of
attack. [Figure from Gurit (UK) Technical Dept (2009) has been modied by
author.]

The wind stream around the blade can be split into two parts. The ow over the more
curved upper side of the blade creates low air pressure, whereas the ow under the prole
generates high pressure. This pressure dierences around the prole result in a lift force
and the prole starts to work. At a larger angle of attack the ow on the prole increases
the lift force, see gure 2.4. When the angle exceeds a critical value, the lift force becomes
smaller than the drag force and the ow becomes turbulent and separates. This ow sepa-
ration is called stall effect (see gure 2.4 on the right). It is used to slow down the turbine
at higher wind speeds in order to regulate the RPM. The variation of the angle of attack,
called rotor blade pitching is used for the control of the blade. (Hau, 2008)

The buoyancy A can be calculated as de-

scribed in equation 2.1 by using the angle of
attack , air density , attacked blade area
(x y) (see gure 2.5), ow speed v and lift
coecient ca .

A = ca (x y) v 2 (2.1)
2
The ow speed v for the rotor blades has
to be calculated by summation of the me-
teorological wind speed and the tangential
wind speed (see equation 2.3). The tangen-
tial wind is dened as the product from the
angular speed and the radius r of the at-
tacked blade area.

Figure 2.5.: Rotor blade dimensions. [Figure

from Hafner (2009) modied by v = vmeteorological + vtangential (2.2)
author.] = vmeteorological + r (2.3)

The drag and lift coecients depend on the attack angle and the Reynolds Number Re.
With Re a statement about the turbulence behaviour of a uid can be taken. It is dened
as the ratio of external and internal forces, see equation 2.4.

6
2.3 Rotor blade aerodynamics

vd vd
Re = = (2.4)

For estimation of Re, the air density , ow speed v, length of the overowed object d
(see gure 2.5), dynamic viscosity with = /, and the kinematic viscosity are required.
Flow velocity v and the length of the object d dominate the forming of turbulence strongly;
second inuence is the viscosity of the uid. At a very small Re, the viscosity is more
dominant than the inertial forces. At high Re, the viscosity eect is negligible and inertial
forces predominate. (Rotach, 2010)
For wind turbine rotors with a diameter larger than 10 m, a Re 106 is optimal.
Figure 2.6 shows the relationship between Re and glide ratio for dierent proles. Glide
ratio is dened by the ratio of the buoyancy and drag coecient. As Re increases, the
glide ratio also increases. Thus, a high Re is better for a good performance. If the Re is
under a certain critical value, the glide ratio decreases signicantly and thus deteriorates
the function of the rotor. The point of the change of the glide behaviour is called critical
Re. (Smulders, 2004)

Figure 2.6.: Glide ratio as a function of Reynolds Number for various blade proles. (Molly,
1990)

The values of Re can be classied in three groups. Re < 5 106 is called subcritical Re.
The laminar ow over the prole is lifeted up and separated fully through the huge pressure
increase, gure 2.7a. Medium values of Re between Re > 5 106 and Re < 3 106 also cause
a separation, but the ow will reattach to the airfoil as turbulent ow, see gure 2.7b.
With values above Re > 3 106 , the ow is within the super critical range. The laminar
ow will be transformed into turbulent ow and separated from the airfoil, see gure 2.7c.
Usually all large wind turbines work with super critical Re to reduce the full separation.
The used Re values are established by Miley (1982).

7
 Theory of wind and wind turbines

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2.7.: Behaviour of the boundary layer at the blade surface with low (a), medium
(b) and high (c) Reynolds Number. (Miley, 1982)

The Reynolds number is not equal to the entire airfoil, because Re is also connected to
the length d of the overown object. Dierent processes occur simultaneously at one blade,
such as super critical Re at the blade tip and subcritical values in the middle of the rotor
blade.

2.4. Wind power

The wind power Pwind is given by
1
Pwind = A v3 (2.5)
2
with air density , rotor swept area A and wind speed v.
However, the possible wind power Pwind is limited and cannot be completely used. The
reason is the congestion of wind behind the rotor. The turbine takes kinetic energy from
the wind, slows down the stream, and produces an accumulation of air which slows down
the complete wind system. This theory was found by Albert Betz in 1919. He dened the
power coecient cp and the limit of that with 0.593. That means, the maximum possible
turbine power which can be extracted by a wind turbine is nearly 60 % of the wind power,
described by equation 2.6. The power coecient cp is determined by the ratio of wind
speed before and after the rotor area. (Burton et al., 2011)
1
Pturbine = cp A v 3 (2.6)
2

2.5. Power curves

A power curve shows the dependence between wind speed and produced electrical power.
Normally, the values at the power curve are 10 minutes averaged. The shown power curve
in gure 2.8 refers to standard atmosphere with 15 C, 1013.25 hP a, 0 % humidity and
density of 1.225 kg/m3 .
At the lowest wind speeds, between 0 and 3 m/s, the wind is too weak to overcome the
moment of inertia and friction. The wind turbine is in spin motion and does not produce
energy. Rotor blades are set to a steep angle (pitch angle) of about 40 to use such low

8
2.5 Power curves

Figure 2.8.: Reference power curve.

wind speeds to be set in motion. 3 m/s is called cut-in speed. Around 3 m/s, the nacelle
rotates in the prevailing wind direction and the turbine starts to move and produces energy.
The part between 3 and 14 m/s is the partial load range. By reaching the stable revolutions
per minute (RPM), the turbine starts to inject electrical power into the grid. With rising
wind speeds, the pitch angle is decreased and the produced power increases. At the point
of wind speeds greater than 14 m/s, the full-load range is reached. The turbine produces
nominal power (gure 2.8). (Kopp, 2013)
According to IEC2 standards, to get a reference power curve, a met mast is installed
besides the prototype or the rst plant of this type in close proximity with an appropriate
size. There, the wind speed and direction at dierent heights are measured. The reference
wind measurements and the electricity produced by the turbine give a rst assessment of
the performance curve. After completing the measurements and for comparability to other
curves, a correction to standard atmosphere will be carried out. (Standard IEC 61400-12-1)
For daily operation of the turbines, a wind met mast is not available. The wind speed is
measured by a nacelle anemometer. This method is discussed in the literature. Today there
are many opinions that at tall turbines, with huge rotor swept areas, the nacelle wind speed
is not representative. But Friedrich (2003) pointed out that, beside 3 % deviation, the wind
speed of nacelle anemometers is in average representative for the hole rotor diameter. On
the other hand, there are turbulence eects caused by a short distance between rotor and
anemometer. Here, corrections via linear regression are possible. (Standard IEC 61400-
12-2) This correction (transfer function) results in a free stream wind speed at nacelle
position. Details of this correction are given in chapter 5.4.

2
International Electrotechnical Commission

9
3. Meteorological parameters
The following parameters denitely or possibly aect the performance of wind turbines. To
later estimate the inuence of the parameters, an overview of theory and scientic research
results is given.

3.1. Wind (speed and direction)

Wind is force and source of electrical power generated by wind turbines. As seen in
equation 2.6, the power of wind turbines is calculated with the cube of wind speed.
Without surrounding obstacles, the wind direction is normally not crucial for power
production. However, this only applies if the yaw system 3 is working properly and the
rotor is always in the wind stream. Otherwise, the blades will be own in inclined, not
work properly and produce less.
The variation in wind speed is important, too. Molly (1990) pointed out the following
example. At a uniform wind speed of 6 m/s in 10 minutes, a representative test turbine
produces 132 W/m2 . At 12 m/s over 5 min and windless in the other 5 min, the average is
also 6 m/s, but 528 W/m2 are generated. This variation in wind speed is documented in
detail in the following subsection 3.2.

3.2. Turbulence intensity

Atmospheric turbulence is a ow condition. A turbulent ow is chaotic, extending in
all directions, has dierent speeds and expansions, mixes the uid much better than the
molecular mixing and is not linear. It is the opposite of a laminar, ordered ow, whose
ow lines do not intersect.
Turbulence are caused by disturbances or changes in the uid, for example by molecular
diusion (Brownian motion), density dierences or boundaries. For example, caused by
high ow velocities large gradients due to friction especially at the edges, whereby the ow
gets turbulent there. Likewise favour density dierences growth due to thermally unstable
stratications. The caused interference grows, becomes unstable and turbulent.
The Reynolds number Re (equation 2.4) is a measure of turbulence. It is calculated,
as described in chapter 2.3, by ow velocity, length and viscosity. Up to a certain ow
rate, the ow is laminar and organised. Above a certain limit speed, the ow is chaotic
3
Wind direction tracking system.

11
 Meteorological parameters

and therefore turbulent. Reynolds dened that with a Re 2000, turbulent ow occurs.
(Rotach, 2010)
In wind energy applications, turbulence is described by turbulence intensity (TI), the
ratio of standard deviation of wind speed (v ) to its average in 10 minutes (v10min ).
v
TI = (3.1)
v10min
As shown in gure 3.1, TI decreases with increasing wind speed. TI varies from 0.1 to
0.4 because of natural uctuations and the process of averaging. High TI values mean a
strong and quick change of wind speeds, resulting in strong loads at blades, nacelle and
tower (Gasch and Twele, 2005). Because of that, IEC dened three classes of turbulence
intensity (see gure 3.1) to classify all turbines and to avoid rapid deterioration.

Figure 3.1.: Three dierent turbulence intensity classes from Standard IEC 61400-1 A1.

Usually, the wind speed and the produced power are stored in a certain sampling rate on
the wind turbines. This rate is usually 1/10 seconds (10 Hz) from a sonic anemometer and
1 second (1 Hz) for a cup anemometer. For the creation of the power curve these values
are summarised in 5 or 10 minutes average P (v) (equation 3.2) and plotted in the diagram
(gure 1.1 blue points).
N
1
P (v) = P (vi ) (3.2)
N i=1
In the performance curve in the literature, for example in Albers and Hinsch (1996) and
Hau (2008), a signicant eect of turbulence is shown (see gure 3.2). This eect can, at
least partly, be explained by the temporal averaging of the measured wind speed and power
in the creation of the power curve and can be estimated by the Reynolds decomposition
(x = x + x ). In this case, the wind speed and power is divided into the mean x and
time-varied variance x of the averaging interval (for example, 10 minutes). The produced

12
3.2 Turbulence intensity

power P (v) at a wind speed v can be evolved by Reynolds decomposition and Taylors
expansion till the second term (equation 3.3). (Albers and Hinsch, 1996)

dP (v + v ) 1 d2 P (v + v )

P (v) = P (v + v ) +
(v (v + v )) + 2
(v (v + v ))2 + ... (3.3)
dv 2 dv

On the assumption that the wind speed v is very close to the mean v, the deviation in
time v disappears and it results in equation 3.4.

dP (v) 1 d2 P (v)
P (v) = P (v) + (v v) + (v v)2 + ... (3.4)
dv 2 dv 2
Equation 3.4 is the currently provided power of a wind turbine. If the average power in
10 minutes is wanted, it has to be averaged with equation 3.2.

N
A B
1 dP (v) 1 d2 P (v)
P (v) P (v) + (v v) + (v v)2 (3.5)
N i=1 dv 2 dv 2
N N
dP (v) 1 1 d2 P (v) 1
P (v) P (v) + (vi v) + (vi v)2 (3.6)
dv N i=1 2 dv 2 N i=1

standard deviation v2

The rst order term disappears due to the linearity of averaging (van Radecke, 2004) and
consequently

1 d2 P (v) 2
P (v) P (v) + v (3.7)
2 dv 2

with standard deviation of wind speed v and T I = v /v appears

1 d2 P (v)
P (v) P (v) + 2
T I v2 (3.8)
2 dv

Beside the power computed with averaged wind speed (P (v)), the power curve (v vs
2 P (v)
P (v)) includes an additional term ( 12 d dv 2 T I v 2 ). Curvature of the power curve
is determined from the sign of this term. An overestimation occurs at the left curved
curve, an underestimation correspondingly at the right curved curve. This relationship
has been described by Albers and Hinsch (1996) as Bias of Estimate. When power values
are averaged, the power curve is overestimated at low wind speed and underestimated at
higher speeds. This becomes more pronounced as TI increases, see gure 3.2. (Albers and
Hinsch, 1996)

13
 Meteorological parameters

Figure 3.2.: Inuence of TI on power production. [Figure adapted from Hau (2008)]

3.3. Air temperature / pressure / density

Consider a gas mass m with N gas molecules in a closed system, which takes the pressure
p, the temperature T and the volume V . In this closed system, the mass and the number
of particles remain constant. Thus, the thermal state of the gas mass is determined by
volume, pressure and temperature.
To derive the gas equation, two processes are performed consecutively. First, an isother-
mal (T = constant) state change with (V1 , p1 , T1 ) (Vx , p2 , T1 ), followed by an isobaric (p
= constant) change in state with (Vx , p2 , T1 ) (V2 , p2 , T2 ) will be done. The relationship
of these changes is taken from experimental studies. For isothermal changes, the Boyle-
Mariottes law is used with p1 V1 = p2 Vx and for isobaric change of state the law of
Gay-Lussac with Vx /T1 = V2 /T2 was taken. After plug in and rearrange the equation 3.9
yields.
p1 V1 p2 V2
= = const. (3.9)
T1 T2
If it is all based on the standard atmosphere with standard pressure pn , standard tem-
perature Tn and molar volume at standard conditions Vn , the constant is equal to the
universal gas constant R. Wherein the universal gas constant R = Rs m is a product of
the specic gas constant Rs and the molar mass m of the gas mass. Consequently, for the
equation of state with
pn Vn
= R = Rs m (3.10)
Tn
and with m/V = , follows equation 3.11. (Etling, 2008)
p
= const. (3.11)
Rs T

That means the density of air is dependent on the pressure, thus onj altitude and air
temperature. According to equation 3.9, the density in a certain height can be calculated

14
3.4 Wind shear

with
T0 ph
h = 0 (3.12)
Th p0
whereas h is density at height, 0 = 1.225 kg/m3 is density at sea level, T0 = 288.15 K is
air temperature in standard atmosphere, p0 = 1013.3 hP a is air pressure at sea level and
Th is temperature (in [K]) in height. (Hau, 2008)
The current density at the turbine will be determined by using equation of state (equa-
tion 3.11) with air pressure p [in Pa], ambient temperature T [in K] and specic gas constant
Rs = 287.058 J/(kg K) for dry air by the equation below with 10 minutes mean values
p
= (3.13)
Rs T
The direct relationship between power production and density (equation 2.6) leads to
higher performance at higher density, see gure 3.3. Due to this strong correlation of den-
sity and power production, the wind speed will always be corrected and called normalised
wind speed. This correction is described in chapter 5.4.

Figure 3.3.: Power curve of a selected medium-sized wind turbine for various air density
values. (Kaldellis, 2008)

3.4. Wind shear

As described in section 2.1, the wind speed increases with the height in the boundary layer.
According to Standard IEC 61400-1 A1, the power law approximation (equation 3.14) is
used in wind turbine site assessments for approximation of average vertical wind speed.
3 4
z2 m
v2 = v1 (3.14)
z1
It includes wind speed v1 at known height z1 , wind shear exponent m and results in wind
speed v2 at wanted height z2 . The wind shear exponent m should be determined for each
wind turbine position by wind measurements at dierent heights. A typical value is 0.14.

15
 Meteorological parameters

Terrain roughness
length [m]
Smooth sea 2.0 - 3.0 104
Sand 0.2 - 1.0 103
Low grass 1.0 - 4.0 102
High grass 0.4 - 1.0 101
Forest 0.1 - 1.0
City 1.0 - 4.0

Table 3.1.: Roughness length for dierent Figure 3.4.: Logarithmic wind prole with
terrains. (Rosas, 2003) dierent wind shear exponents,
for stable atmospheric stratica-
tion.

In reality, the wind shear exponent varies according to height, surface roughness and
stability. A more realistic approximation is the logarithmic wind profile with stability
correction in a thermally stratified layer.
3 3 4 3 44
v z z
v(z) = ln (3.15)
z0 L
v is the friction or shear velocity, the Von Krmn constant ( 0.4), z0 the rough-
ness length (example values are shown in table 3.1) and a stability-dependent function.
(Petersen et al., 1997)
The empirical stability function corrects the eects of temperature stratication. It
is positive for unstable, negative for stable and zero for neutral conditions. The stability
function depends on height z and L the Monin-Obukhov-Length. The Monin-Obukhov-
Length describes the vertical mass transfer of the air mass by ratio of friction and buoyancy
force. It can be determined directly and indirectly through measurements, for example with
sonic anemometer. (Gasch and Twele, 2005) For details of derivation or exact calculation
of , see Rotach (2010) or Etling (2008).
For a known roughness length, the wind speed v2 can be calculated at height z2 as follows
1 1 2 1 22
z2 z2
lnz
L
v2 = v 1 1 1 z0 2 1 22 .
z1
(3.16)
ln z01 L

In unstable conditions, turbulence is higher and the resulting mixing decreases the wind
shear, see gure 3.5a. In stable conditions it works vice versa. (Petersen et al., 1997)
For wind turbines, is neutral stratication the time with the most turbulence and loads
at the components. This condition is prevalent during strong winds, when ground rough-

16
3.4 Wind shear

(a) (b)

Figure 3.5.: (a) Logarithmic wind prole inuenced by atmospheric stability. (Petersen
et al., 1997) (b) Power curve for dierent stability classes. [Figure adapted
from Wharton and Lundquist (2010)]

ness aects mechanical turbulence, strong mixing of the layer and small wind shear. In
unstable cases, sudden gusts from the low level are possible and stable conditions can aect
asymmetric loads caused by high wind shear. Furthermore, there are strong and prompt
changes in wind speed and directions with height. (Burton et al., 2011)

Wharton and Lundquist (2010) conducted a study of stability impacts on power curves
of tall wind turbines. They took, beside others values, the turbulence intensity as a marker
for atmospheric stability and found out that during strong stable and stable conditions, i.e.
turbulence intensities lower than 10 %, power curves are better than during light unstable
(15 % < T I > 20 %) or unstable phases (20 % < T I > 30 %), see gure 3.5. In this
connection it is useful to think of gure 3.2, in which the eect of TI is shown in the
performance curve.

In practice, four dierent eects exist for resulting wind shear, ground slope, obstacles,
near standing turbines and atmospheric stability. Wind shear generates higher loads at
the components or destroys the behaviour of aerodynamical estimations. The larger the
dierence with height is, the larger the wind shear exponent and the greater these loads.
To see the dierence of low and high wind shear exponents, see gure 3.5b. It is clearly
visible that wind shear exponents change the wind speed in hub height.(Gasch and Twele,
2005)

17
 Meteorological parameters

3.5. Precipitation
Precipitation aects wind energy production mainly by changing the aerodynamical prop-
erties of the blades.
During rainfall, the surfaces are wetted and thus change their properties and surface
roughness. Molly (1990) found out that during long and strong rain, the power production
will be clearly reduced by collision of the droplet and disturbance of the laminar prole.
The main problem is the dierent surface properties and the change of surface streams on
the blades. The loss of impulse of the rotor due to the collision of the droplets is not that
important.

Figure 3.6.: Power curve without, light and heavy rain events. (Molly, 1990)

Wind turbines are collectors for all particles in the air. At the leading edges4 accumulate
insects, dust, oil, moss, polls, soot or, at oshore turbines, salts. Especially during summer
this pollution is strong, warm and dry conditions promote that mechanism. This change
in the surface roughness changes the aerodynamic properties of the blades and reduces the
eciency. During heavy rain events, the surface of the rotor blades will be washed clean.
Particles such as dust, insects or oil can be reduced by the impact of the droplets and the
rotation movement. The cleaning result is never fully achieved and it is therefore dicult
to estimate its eect. During light rain, no cleaning eect is achieved. The wet surface
takes up more particles and the blades get dirtier. (Hau, 2008)
Rain in cold conditions, snow or ice has a supporting role. The most signicant change
of the blade is caused by an iced surface. Here the main problem is not in the changed char-
acteristic of the rotor blade, but the ice shedding and defects due to high loads. Therefore,
when blades are iced-up, the turbine is shut down for safety reasons. Many manufacturers
are working with various de-icing systems to reach a low failure rate. Ice events were not
considered in this work.
4
Part of the rotor blades which first come into contact with air. (Crane, 1997)

18
4. Site description
For this analysis four sites are chosen, two in Europe and two in India.
The turbine Europe1 is positioned at the Adriatic coast at 200 m above sea level (a.s.l.)
on a crest of a ridge in front of the mountains. As shown in gure 4.1a, the climate at
this site is dominated by Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and most rain in
winter.
Europe2 is the reference site for that kind of turbine. It is located in the east, near the
Black Sea in at terrain at 100 m a.s.l. This site is inuenced by maritime climate, with
warm summers and winters with low, but mostly positive, temperatures. Precipitation
occures during the whole year, without any dry phases, see gure 4.1b.

(a) Europe1 (b) Europe2

Figure 4.1.: Annual variation of temperatures (monthly average) and precipitation

(monthly summation) for three years (2010 to 2013) with ERA-interim data,
interpolated to the coordinates of the turbines.

Position India1 is in the middle of the southern end of India, around 100 km in west,
east and south direction to the Indian Ocean at about 120 m a.s.l. Monthly mean tem-
peratures only vary between 25 and 30 C. In gure 4.2a between April and November, a
high maximum in precipitation is visible, which is aected by summer monsoon and post
monsoon.
The monsoons are winds that change their directions seasonally; in India during winter
the monsoon blows from northeast and during summer from southwest. The summer
monsoon is a warm wind, which circulated a long time over the Indian Ocean and takes

19
 Site description

up a lot of moisture. As it is heated over land and its stratication becomes less unstable,
heavy rainfall over the Indian mainland is the result (Hckel, 2005). As shown in the
appendix in gure A.1, the main precipitation is falling at the west coast of India. The
turbine India1 is located downstream of the mountain range and therefore not within the
area of very strong monsoon rainfalls. However, the monsoon aects the weather at this
site.
India2 is placed at the southern coast of India. It is 4 km away from the Indian Ocean
at 20 m a.s.l. The climate is nearly the same as India1; hot, dry winters (January till
March) and more precipitation during the summers, but clearly less than in autumn, with
temperature range between 28 and 30 C in annual mean. The monsoon does not strongly
aect the site. The air and precipitation is inuenced by the summer monsoon, but weaker
than in India1 or at the eastern coast. Due to the short distance to the sea and the high
temperatures, the monthly mean humidity is between 65 and 80 %.

(a) India1 (b) India2

Figure 4.2.: Annual variation of temperatures (monthly average) and precipitation

(monthly summation) for three years (2010 to 2013) with ERA-interim data,
interpolated to the coordinates of the turbines.

Table 4.1 shows the prominent dierence between the European and Indian turbine
sites. The temperatures in Europe vary signicantly seasonally, whereas in India, the
season is not recognised by the temperature, but by precipitation. In India, temperatures
are high and the pressures are lower than in Europe which leads to low density values.
The correction of wind speed to normalised wind speed, shown in equation 5.4, is very
important at these sites.
The precipitation amounts dier signicantly, too. In India1, the mean monthly summa-
tion of precipitation is around 140 mm, and in India2 about 95 mm. In Europe, is monthly
mean precipitation sum higher in Europe1 with 69 mm, and lower in Europe2 with 41 mm.

20
 Europe1 Europe2 India1 India2
temperature (annual mean) 14.7 C 13.4 C 27.0 C 28.0 C
temperature (winter mean) 8.7 C 6.4 C 26.9 C 27.8 C
temperature (summer mean) 21.9 C 21.6 C 27.2 C 28.3 C
air density (annual mean) 1.18 kg/m 1.23 kg/m 1.13 kg/m 1.16 kg/m
precipitation (mean month sum) 69 mm 41 mm 138 mm 95 mm

Table 4.1.: Mean values from ERA-interim data (2011 to 2013) with interpolated to the
coordinates of the turbines. Annual, winter mean (November to April) and
summer mean (May to September), annual mean air density and monthly mean
precipitation sum.

21
5. Data
For this analysis, data from dierent sources are used. The biggest amount of data and
variables comes from the turbines. These are technical values, like electrical power or RPM
and meteorological ones, like wind speed, temperature and air pressure, measured at nacelle
height. The second set of data consists of a measurement of the vertical temperature prole
at the turbine tower and the precipitation intensity taken at 2 m above the ground.

5.1. Data overview: sources and periods

As already described, the data are taken from a variety of sources and measuring instru-
ments. Moreover, the periods of the measurement, for example the external measurement
of stability, are not equal for all turbines. The following table 5.1 shows the turbine sites
registered with the respective measurement periods and measuring instruments. The times
given are rounded to whole months, for example 10/2012 to 07/2013 means data are avail-
able from 1/10/2012 to 1/8/2013.

India1 India2 Europe1 Europe2 Instrument Accuracy

wind speed 0.1 m/s
01/2011 01/2011 11/2011 01/2011 ultra sonic
wind direction 1.0
to to to to (2D)
virt. temperature 0.5 K
07/2013 07/2013 07/2013 07/2013
air pressure barometer 1.5 hP a
temperature di. 10/2012 10/2012 08/2012 05/2013 PT1000 0.1 K
humidity to to to to HC105 2.0 %
precipitation 04/2013 07/2013 07/2013 07/2013 rain sensor 5.0 %
wind shear 06/2012 06/2012 cup 0.2 m/s
to to anemome-
01/2013 01/2013 ter

Table 5.1.: Overview of time range and the measuring instruments for all parameters used
at the dierent test turbines.

23
 Data

5.2. Data from the turbine

Wind turbines take up lots of data for the daily use. This is necessary for an eective energy
production and a successful operational management. For example, the wind turbines use
the information about turbulence intensity (TI). If TI is too high for a few minutes, the
turbine changes the RPM to reduce vibrations or possible damages at the blades. The
wind direction is used for wind direction tracking (yaw control) to position the rotor in the
actual prevailing wind. This reduces oblique inow angles and high loads at the blades.
Wind speed, wind direction and ambient virtual temperature were taken by a two-
dimensional sonic anemometer at the nacelle every 1/10 seconds. Air pressure is measured
by an analogue barometer in a 1 minute time range.
In addition to the wind speed and direction, the sonic anemometer displays the air
temperature. This is a side product and without knowledge of the current humidity, the
estimated temperature is the so-called acoustic virtual temperature. The acoustic virtual
temperature is equal to the virtual temperature, but measured by an acoustic ow mea-
surement method. Virtual temperature is the temperature of dry air if it would have the
same density and pressure as wet air (Foken, 2008). The virtual temperature is lower for
hot, wet values and equal to the ambient temperature for dry conditions (gure 5.1).

Figure 5.1.: Diagram of acoustic virtual temperature vs. ambient temperature with dier-
ent humidities.

From the sonic anemometer, wind speed and virtual air temperature were used for the
analysis. All parameters used are measured at the hub height (65 m) and are corrected as
described in section 5.4.

24
5.3 Measurement and met mast data

5.3. Measurement and met mast data

For this master thesis, additional temperature prole and precipitation sensors were in-
stalled, see gure 5.2. Two temperature sensors (type PT1000) were mounted in radiation
shields at dierent heights at the wind turbine tower. Sensors and cables were attached to
the tower by strong magnets and silicon.

Figure 5.2.: Basic technical drawing of measurement setup at the wind turbine.

The precipitation intensity sensor was installed at 2 m above the ground. It consists of
a light barrier with LEDs5 . When the sensor is covered by precipitation in form of drizzle,
rain, snow or hails, it reduces the amount of light sensors. The degree of shading and the
passing time is used to determine the size of the precipitation particle. Thus the rainfall
intensity, the amount of precipitation in a given time, is measurable. The measuring
instrument is heated to avoid freezing. The connection to the logger is analogue.
To compare the data with power production or wind speed, a summation of the precip-
itation amounts of 10 minutes was done (Thies, 2008).

Wind shear could be computed from measurements of wind speed at dierent heights of
an additional met mast. The data used were determined on two masts in India. In Europe,
no met mast data for the period were available.
At India1, the mast is 420 m away from the turbine and located in north-western direc-
tion. It has three cup anemometers at 65 m, 50 m and 40 m, and two wind vanes at 65 m
and 40 m. Additionally, temperature is measured at 10 m.
The mast for India2 is 4 km away in south-south-west direction and has 4 anemometers
at 3 heights, two at 80 m locking north and south, one at 65 m and one at 50 m. Also, it
has two wind vanes at 78 m and 65 m and a temperature sensor at 10 m.
5
LED ... light-emitting diode

25
 Data

5.4. Data quality control and post processing

Before data analysis and interpretation, it is important to describe the various analysis
methods.
The measured data are raw and not corrected. Error values, outliers and values inu-
enced by hand are still included. It was necessary to delete them and correct some of the
parameters to get a clear and uninterrupted power curve. Conditions that led to a deletion
are listed in table 5.2.
Value Deletion criteria Reason for delition
temperature +50 C
temperature -35 C
wind speed 0 m/s
improbable value/measurement error
wind speed 35 m/s
pressure 850 hP a
power 0 kW
dierence in grid voltage 100 generator problems
rated RPM = default manual changes during operational work
rated power = default manual changes during operational work

Table 5.2.: Conditions and lter for deletion of error values.

Wind speeds were normalised and corrected according to the normalised wind speed
documented by Standard IEC 61400-12-1. Normalised wind speed (vnorm ) is wind speed
corrected according to standard atmospheric conditions. It is made directly using the
relationship between performance and density. The performance of the standard density
is set equally to the power of the currently prevailing density (see equations 5.1 and 5.2),
the correction equation 5.3 resuls.

Pnorm = P (5.1)
3
1/2 cp norm A vnorm = 1/2 cp A v 3 (5.2)
vnorm = v (norm /)1/3 (5.3)
With v10min wind speed as well as 10min density in 10 minutes average and air density
at standard atmosphere 0 = 1.225 kg/m3 , equation 5.3 results in equation 5.4.
A B1
10min 3
vnorm = v10min (5.4)
0
The density (10min ) was determined from measured virtual air temperature (T10min in
[K]) and air pressure (p10min in [Pa]) from sonic anemometer according to the following
equation
p10min
10min = (5.5)
Rs T10min

26
5.4 Data quality control and post processing

including the specic gas constant for dry air Rs = 287.058 J/(kg K).
After normalisation of the wind speed, a nacelle transfer function was carried out. The
IEC describes this transfer function as follows: This transfer function predicts what the
free stream wind speed would be at the position of the centre of the turbine rotor if
the turbine were not present using wind speed measured by a nacelle-mounted anemome-
ter.(Standard IEC 61400-12-2) There is a correlation between uninterrupted wind speed
(vf ree ) from met mast and wind speed measured at the turbine (vturbine ) with wind speeds
in m/s.
vf ree = P 1 vturbine + P 2 (5.6)
For a more exact correction, the correlation was split into two parts, above and below
8.6 m/s. The value of the coecients varies from 0.95 to 1 for P1 and from -0.16 to -0.50
for P2.
The eect of the post processing can be seen in gure 5.3b.

(a) (b)

Figure 5.3.: Example for (a) uncorrected and (b) corrected power curve with data of turbine
Europe2 for 2011 to 2013.

The raw data of the two met masts were given in .NDF les, and extracted and converted
into text les by the logger software NOMAD 2 Desktop6 . The data were cleaned up with
functions and by visual diagnosis, error values were deleted or replaced. The wind shear
exponent was calculated as described in section 3.4 by using the power law equation 3.14.
The resulting data were added to the other data set.

6
Used version NOMAD 2 Desktop, Version 1.0.10, 2004 Second Wind Inc.

27
6. Analysis
6.1. Multiple linear regression model
In order to identify which meteorological parameters could be causing the dierence be-
tween expected and actually produced power, a multiple linear regression was performed.
The following model was t for wind speeds between 5 and 11 m/s, to solve the model at
the most linear part of the curve.

P = 0 + 1 theo power + 2 turbulence + 3 temperature

(6.1)
+4 precipitation + 5 stability

The dependent variable is P , the dierence between real produced power and the
reference power, see gure 6.1. For a high value of P , the power curve diers signi-
cantly from the reference. The explanatory variables are the meteorological parameters:
turbulence intensity, temperature, precipitation and thermal stability. Additionally, the
parameterised wind speed was used as theoretical power. For this purpose, the wind speed
values were converted into power applying the known reference power curve (black solid
line in gure 6.1). Thus, the use of a parameter to the cube is avoided. The resulting
regression equation is shown in equation 6.1.

Figure 6.1.: Denition of the dependent variable P for the regression model.

In order to be able to include the importance of each parameter from the score of i ,
the resulting i was standardised based on the standard deviation of P and centre, e.g.
3stand. = 3 std(temperature)/std(P ). i describes the intensity of the inuence of the

29
 Analysis

parameter on power deviation. This means that a large, positive i causes a large positive
parameter value and a signicant positive change in the dependent variable.
By solving the equation 6.1 via MATLAB with the regression function LinearModel.fit,
i was determined for each parameter. For this analysis, a signicance level of 95% was
chosen. That means the probability of error is 5 %, this is shown in gure 6.2b by the
dotted line in the lower plot. All values above this line are not signicant and can be
excluded from the discussion.
The multiple linear regressions were done for three test turbine sites (India2, Europe1
and Europe2) and for the collection of all three in one data set together. Turbine India1
was not used due to too little amount of data. The merge of the three data sets increases
the range of the data, for example the temperature data from -15 to 35 C.
Numbers of observations are quite dierent for this model. India2 has the most data
sets with 15481 values, followed by Europe2 and Europe1 with 5139 and 3435 values. The
whole model is signicant for the separate data sets and the merge of all data, too.
In considering the residuals (gure 6.2a), a tilting of the entire data cloud seems to be
signicant. It is to note that the distanced points are signicantly less and the average of
these point cloud is 0, as it needs to be.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.2.: (a) Residuals for merged data set. (b) i and p-values for regression model
with dashed line in the lower plot that marks the signicance of 5 %.

The most obvious is the wind speed, which is parameterised in theo power. It is evident
that the distance between real and reference production is increasing when wind speed
increases, as visible in the performance curve (gure 6.1). Therefore, the i for the wind
speed is greatest. However, this is not an explanation of the cause, but the eect.
The second highest i is the temperature ones. The turbine sites with high seasonal
characteristics of temperature changes (Europe1 and Europe2) show higher i than turbines
in areas with a fairly constant temperature, like India2. The air density was not considered

30
6.2 Power curve analysis

in this model, because it is calculated directly from the temperature and air pressure and
thus density is not independent.
The turbulence intensity (TI ) is the strongest negative acting parameter. i in India2
and Europe1 is nearly the same; whereas in Europe2, the value is twice as high as in the
other sites. The turbulence is for all three data sets signicant. The parameter stability
has negative and positive i . For the merged data set (all) and for India2, i is negative
with values below the TI ones. For Europe1 and Europe2, i is positive, but very small.
All i are signicant with pValues below 5 %.
The rain eect on the power productions seems to be very small. i of parameter rain
is very small, whereas Europe1 is not signicant.
This analysis is a rst approximation of the eects of meteorological parameters on the
power production deviation. It should stay in mind that the air temperature respectively
density could be the main actors in the search for the reason for the large deviations.

6.2. Power curve analysis

In a next step, the eect of particular meteorological conditions on the power curve is
illustrated to conrm the results of the multiple linear regression analysis.

6.2.1. Wind speed

The wind speed was measured at 65 m hub height by sonic anemometer (see section 5.2)
and corrected according to IEC standards (see section 5.4). The distribution of the relative
frequency of the wind speed (gure 6.3a) was plotted for the four test turbines (India1,
India2, Europe1 and Europe2) by using data from January 2011 till June 2013.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.3.: (a) Distribution of the relative frequency of wind speed for India1, India2,
Europe1 and Europe2 with data from January 2011 to June 2013. (b) Power
curve for data merge of all four test turbines.

31
 Analysis

Except for India1, all distributions have one maximum. India1 has two, which are
caused by monsoon events. During monsoon, the winds are stronger than in non-monsoon
periods. It becomes clear that, as already described in chapter 4, India2 is not aected by
the monsoon. In Europe1, the wind speed distribution is spread more widely. There are
higher wind speeds than at the other sites. Europe2 is similar to the distribution of India2,
with a high peak and highest wind speeds at about 18m/s. The average wind speed is
8 m/s in India1, 7 m/s in India2 and Europe2 and 8.3 m/s in Europe1.
In the power curve (gure 6.3b), an increase of the deviation can be seen with increasing
wind speed. Production output (dotted line) seems to be close to the reference up to 8 m/s.
At wind speeds above 8 m/s, real and expected power clearly dier.

6.2.2. Temperature
For the temperature values, the virtual temperature from sonic anemometer at the nacelle
was taken (for details, see section 5.2). At the relative frequency distribution of temper-
atures for all four test turbines (gure 6.4a), the dierence between European and Indian
sites is striking. The temperature in Europe1 and Europe2 ranges from -10 C to 35 C,
whereas in India 20 C is the minimum and 40 C is the maximum possible. The averages
of temperatures are 14 C at Europe1, 12.5 C at Europe2, 31 C at India1 and 27.8 C at
India2.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.4.: (a) Distribution of relative frequencies of air temperature for all four test tur-
bines (Europe2, Europe1, India1 and India2), with data from 2011 till July
2013. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test turbines for 5 and
35 1 C.

The power performance for two dierent temperatures is shown in gure 6.4b. The
minimum and maximum possible temperature values were used to build a complete curve.
A signicant dierence between the two power curves can be recognised. Power production
at 35 1 C is between 8 and 9 m/s, 8.4 % worse than the reference, whereas in 5 1 C
condition the production is only 0.4 % less than the reference.

32
6.2 Power curve analysis

6.2.3. Density
The air density was calculated using the ideal gas equation (equation 3.13) with air pres-
sure and temperature measured from sonic anemometer at hub height. The distribution
(gure 6.5a) of air density is as expected the opposite of temperature distribution. Eu-
ropean sites have a large range, between 1.12 and 1.35 kg/m3 . In India the densities are
lower, caused by high temperatures in range from 1.08 to 1.18 kg/m3 , with averages at
1.13 kg/m3 in India1 and 1.16 kg/m3 in India2. 1.19 kg/m3 is the mean density in Europe1,
and in Europe2 density average is close to standard atmosphere with 1.21 kg/m3 .
Since wind speed is corrected by density, as shown in section 5.4, the power curves
for dierent densities should hardly be distinguishable. But as shown in power curves in
gure 6.5b with dierent densities, a very clear behaviour is visible.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.5.: (a) Density distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test tur-
bines for 1.10 and 1.25 kg/m3 .

At low wind speeds (between 2 and 8 m/s), the dierence between the densities is easily
recognisable. From 8 m/s, the performance curves of dierent densities dier signicantly.
Low densities (1.10 kg/m3 ) lead to a large deviation from the actual and expected produc-
tion. However, at higher densities (1.25 kg/m3 ), only a small dierence from the reference
can be seen. The average density of the entire point cloud is 1.18 kg/m3 . For the whole
power curve from 3 to 13 m/s, the dierence of the reference from the high density curve
is very small with 0.95 %. For low values (1.10 kg/m3 ), the dierence from the reference
curve is -10.8 %. This is a signicant dierence, despite the density correction.

To reduce the temperature/density eect and present the statements for the other param-
eters independent of temperature, the power curves are presented in the following chapters
for xed temperatures. The performance curves for 5, 18, 20 or 25 1 C were plotted.
However, not all power curves show dierences for all these temperatures. Therefore, only
the signicant performance curves are shown with the respective temperature indication.

33
 Analysis

6.2.4. Relative humidity

The relative air humidity was measured by the external system with a humidity sensor
(type HC105) integrated into the sensors at the two dierent heights (see chapter 5.3 for
measurement details). The upper sensor at approximately 64 m height was used.
In the distribution plot (gure 6.6a) there are high values at India1 and India2. The
spread of humidity in Europe is larger with values from below 20 to 100 %. The average of
humidity values are 60.5 % at Europe1, 64.3 % at Europe2 and at the Indian sites 64.3 %
at India1 and 69.1 % at India2. For India it should be taking into account that the mean
humidity values were measured in periods without monsoon.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.6.: (a) Humidity distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test
turbines for dry (<50 %) and wet (85 - 100 %) conditions and temperatures
around 25 1 C.

To obtain a distinct plot, the values of relative humidity are divided in dry (<50 %)
and humid (85 to 100 %) phases. The power curves were plotted for dierent humidities
at a constant temperature of 25 1 C, thus the presentation of the graph in gure 6.6b
is independent of temperature. The two curves hardly dier from each other. This is
also the case for 5, 10 and 18 C. Generally, a deviation of the entire power curve of
the reference from -16.8 % to -15.4 % for dry and wet characteristics is recognisable. This
dierence from the reference curve is less than at lower temperatures. However, the curves
are almost indistinguishable from each other here.

6.2.5. Turbulence intensity

Turbulence intensity (TI) was calculated as described in section 3.2 with wind speed mea-
sured by sonic anemometer at 65 m hub height.
The distribution of relative frequency of TI is shown in gure 6.7a. The maximum
frequencies of the Indian turbines are higher than the European ones. The range of TI is
the same for all sites, from 5 to 35 %. Average values for TI are 15.6 % at India1, 14.6 %

34
6.2 Power curve analysis

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 6.7.: (a) Turbulence distribution. (b) Turbulence in dependence of wind speed for
all four test turbines and the three IEC turbulence classes. (c) Power curve for
data merge of all four test turbines for turbulence intensities of 5 % and 20 %.

at India2, 12.8 % at Europe2 and 11.8 % at Europe1. In India TI is slightly higher than in
Europe. In gure 6.7b, the wind speed is plotted in dependence of TI. Additionally, the
edges of the IEC TI classes A to C are drawn. All turbines are TI class A. The reference
line shows the conditions of the TI during the measurement for the reference performance
curve for this turbine type. TI for European turbines, Europe2, Europe1 and the reference
turbine, decreases with increasing wind speed, TI in India remains relatively constant with
increasing wind speed.
The power curves in gure 6.7c show for a high TI (20 %) an overestimation in lower wind
speeds (from 2 to 9 m/s) and above 9 m/s an underestimation of the power production.
The TI for the reference power curve is corrected to 0 %. The mean of TI value for all four
turbines is 13.6 %.
Secondly, within the full-load range, only data with lower TI are available, as in higher
wind speeds the TI decreases.

35
 Analysis

Generally, it is clear that the variation of the performance curve with high turbulence
(20 %) diers from the reference curve by -9.3 %. At low turbulence levels (5 %) this
deviation to the reference is -5.8 %.

6.2.6. Atmospheric stability

The atmospheric stability was calculated as a dierence in temperature. The temperatures
were measured with two equal sensors (PT1000) at dierent heights. A detailed description
with sketch can be found in chapter 5.3.

(a)

(b) (c)

Figure 6.8.: (a) Stability distribution. Power curve for temperature dierences (stability
indicators) with stable (>-0.2 K), unstable (<-0.4 K) and neutral (
=-0.38 K)
conditions at constant temperatures at (b) 15 C and (c) 25 C.

The relative frequency of stability (gure 6.8a) is quite the same among the four turbines.
The maximum is -0.3 K. This value corresponds to the neutral stratication, because the
sensors were mounted at a distance of about 38 m.
It is clear to see that stable (> -0.38 K) conditions are more frequent than unstable
stratication. The mean values of stability in India1 is +0.33 K that indicates strong

36
6.2 Power curve analysis

stability, but the data amount is not big enough to trust this result. In India2 the average
stability is +0.10 K, in Europe2 +0.07 K and in Europe1 -0.11 K.
Below 20 C unstable conditions are better for power production (gure 6.8b) than stable
ones. For the whole power curve the dierence from the reference for stable curve is -10.2 %,
whereas in unstable conditions that dierence is -3.9 %.
Above 20 C, e.g. at 25 1 C (gure 6.8c), the behaviour changes. Stable stratication
is clearly better (-8.6 % dierence from reference) than unstable with -20 % dierence from
the reference. The average stratication of all values together is stable, with -0.03 K.

6.2.7. Wind shear

The data for the calculation of wind shear exponent are taken from two met masts in India.
The time period of these data sets is half a year from 01.06.2012 to 31.12.2012. A detailed
description of the measurement can be found in section 5.3.
The distribution of the relative frequency of the wind shear exponent (gure 6.9a) has
higher values at India1 than at India2. The most frequencies are for both turbines between
0 and 0.35 with maxima about 0.5 and minimum values around -0.4. Whereas such low
values are unusual. The mean in India1 is 0.17 and in India2 0.12.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.9.: (a) Distribution of the relative frequency of wind shear exponent for India1
and India2. (b) Power curve for data merge of all Indian test turbines for wind
shear distribution at 22 1 C.

In gure 6.9b, the power curve for 22 1 C and wind shear values of 0.05 and 0.20
is shown. Caused by the small amount of data at 22 1 C, it is the lowest possible
temperature to plot the power curve for these Indian test turbines. The power curves at
22 1 C are for a wind shear of 0.05 and 0.20 quite the same, the wind shear does not
aect the power curve at this temperature.
At higher temperatures, the performance curves dier signicantly from each other.
These dierences increase with rising temperatures, whereas the power curve for high wind

37
 Analysis

shear exponents approaches to the reference curve. The dierences of the power curves
with low and high values are -5.9 % at 26 1 C and -12.7 % at 30 1 C.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.10.: Power curves for two dierent wind shear values for (a) 26 1 C and (b)
30 1 C.

6.2.8. Precipitation
The precipitation intensity was measured by a separate rain intensity sensor, which was
installed near the ground of the four test turbines. Details of functional principle and
installation can be found in section 5.3. The distribution of relative frequencies of pre-
cipitation (gure 6.11a) has a logarithmic ordinate. The unit of precipitation intensity is
the amount in millimetres in 10 minutes. For example 2 mm/10 min means two litres per
square metres in 10 minutes. The abscissa shows four events of precipitation, no rain with
0 mm/10 min, light rain with values between 0 mm/10 min and 0.1 mm/10 min, moderate
rainfall with amounts between 0.1 mm/10 min and 0.7 mm/10 min and heavy rain with
values above 0.7 mm/10 min.
The measurement shows that the most common is no precipitation. With a relative
frequency of 94 %, there is no rain at Europe1. At India2 these dry phases occurred with
a frequency of about 98.6 %, in Europe2 with 98.7 % and India1 with 98.8 %. Most
rain fell at Europe1, here all rain events happened with a frequency of around 1 %, with
a higher frequency of stronger (moderate to heavy) precipitation events. This is due to
the Mediterranean climate (see chapter 4) with hot, dry summers, colder, wet winters
and most precipitation in winter time. In Europe2, the measurement starts in springtime
of 2013 and ends like all others in June 2013. It is a short period and only spring and
early summer values are available. Very low frequencies are shown on the diagram for
precipitation events. Whereas heavy rain events are slightly more often than the light and
moderate ones that can be caused by thunderstorms.
In India1 and India2, the frequencies are also low. The measurement period from October

38
6.2 Power curve analysis

(a) (b)

Figure 6.11.: (a) Precipitation distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test
turbines for precipitation intensity.

to June is the driest during the whole year in India. Moderate rain was more often with
around 0.7 % than light and heavy rainfall events with 0.5 % and 0.4 %.
The average values for precipitation is in India1 and India2 0.006 mm/10 min, in Europe2
0.02 mm/10 min and in Europe1 0.07 mm/10 min.
Caused by the minimum dierence between the dry phases and the precipitation phases
in the power curve in gure 6.11b and the dierent seasonal behaviours of the turbine sites
merge. Temperature-independent power curves were plotted, in gure 6.12a and 6.12b.

(a) (b)

Figure 6.12.: Power curves for rain events and dry conditions for (a) 5 1 C and (b)
20 1 C.

At low temperatures (5 1 C), the production is best in dry conditions without rain.
The dierence from the reference is 0.5 % without rain and around -5 % for rain events. At
temperatures above 20 1 C (gure 6.12b) this behaviour changes. The performance is

39
 Analysis

for both curves worse than in cold conditions, but the dierence from the reference at the
upper end of the partial load range is greater in dry conditions. For wind speeds from 3
to 13 m/s, the dierence is at 20 1 C -12.8 % for dry and -7.8 % for rain events. A clear
temperature eect is visible in the behaviour of the wind turbine during precipitation.

6.2.9. Summary of analysis

To see the inuence of each parameter at the power production, the table 6.1 was set
up. This table (column 3, di power [%]) shows normalised dierences from the analysis
power curve plots between real produced (Preal ) and reference power (Pref ) in per cent (see
equation 6.2).

(Pref Preal )
Pn = 100 % (6.2)
Pref

Furthermore, is the dierence between the two Pn is indicated in column 4 (Pn1 Pn2
[%]), e.g. for the temperature P = 0.15 % - (-11.86 %) = 12.0 %.
The dierence in power production for dierent temperatures and densities is signicant.
At 5 C, the expected production is reached. Similarly, for density close to standard at-
mosphere values, the power curve deviates about 1 % from the reference. As temperature
increases and density decreases respectively, the deviation of real and reference production
increases, signicantly. The dierence between 5 and 35 C is one of the largest of the
whole analysis.
To minimise the known eect of temperature for the consideration of the other parame-
ters (humidity, stability, windshear and precipitation), these performance curves for xed
temperature values were created. Thus, the power curve for 25 1 C is signicantly dif-
ferent from the reference, the dierence between the two parameter values (e.g. stable and
unstable) however can be better interpreted.
It can be said that the stability and wind shear yield the greatest dierence between the
two possible values at high temperatures. During lower temperatures, 15 C for stability
and 26 C for wind shear, the dierences are halved. The eect of thermal stability and
wind shear is at high temperatures more signicant for the power curve.
The precipitation also shows an eect. The dierences for 5 and 20 C are between -6 %
and 5 %. Nevertheless, the eect is completely changed. At colder conditions precipitation
is destructive for the power production, but at higher temperatures it is conducive for a
good performance.
The turbulence aects the power curve, but the overestimation and underestimation
make in summation a small derivation from the real power curve to the reference.
The smallest change of the power curve is caused by humidity. There the dierences
between dry and wet air conditions for all temperatures are very small and not signicant
at all.
Now the question remains why the power curve is still heavily dependent on the tem-
perature and the density despite the density correction of the wind speed.

40
6.2 Power curve analysis

Amount Pn [%] Pn1 Pn2 [%]

5 C

0.15
temperature 12.0
35 C -11.86
1.10 kg/m3 -10.79
density -11.7
1.25 kg/m3 0.95
humidity 50 % -16.81
-1.4
(at 25 C) 85 - 100 % -15.41
5% -5.80
TI 3.5
20 % -9.30
stability stable -10.18
-6.3
(at 15 C) unstable -3.87
stability stable -8.59
11.6
(at 25 C) unstable -20.14
wind shear 0.05 -19.64
-6.0
(at 26 C) 0.20 -13.60
wind shear 0.05 -18.67
-12.7
(at 30 C) 0.20 -5.93
precipitation dry 0.49
5.6
(at 5 C) rain -5.07
precipitation dry -12.78
-5.0
(at 20 C) rain -7.78

Table 6.1.: Summary of all considered parameters with the respective deviation from the
reference curve in per cent and the dierences between the deviations for each
parameter.

41
7. Discussion & Conclusion
The aim of this work is to nd the reasons for decreased power production of wind turbines
due to meteorological parameters. Temperature respectively density were found to be
crucial, which surprises after the density correction (equation 5.4) of wind speed was done.
The linear regression model (section 6.1) and the power curve analyses (section 6.2)
pointed out a high impact of air temperature and density of the power deviation. In
the model it is clearly evident that these two variables have the biggest inuence in addition
to the wind speed. This point is signicantly enhanced by the power curves analyses. In
this analysis it is marked that the density correction of the wind speed, which should clean
up the power curves for dierent density values to the standard density, is not working
correctly for this data set. The power curves for dierent densities and temperatures dier
signicantly. This is a very distinct behaviour that is shown at all turbine sites, especially
at warm temperatures, in Europe in the summers and in India throughout the year. After
discussing all the other parameters, this phenomenon will be considered again in more
detail.

The power curve analyses of relative humidity (section 6.2.4) showed up no marked
dierence between wet and dry air. The analyses were carried out for constant temper-
atures, and no dierence could be seen. Thus, the humidity plays no special role in the
power production.
At high humidity values, the conversion from virtual temperature to real temperature
could cause a change in the density and hence the normalised wind speed. This would be
noticeable by very small changes in the performance curve; however, large variations in
performance are not explained by the relative humidity.

The behaviour of the averaged power curve at dierent turbulence intensities was
already shown mathematically and derived in chapter 3.2. This has been conrmed in the
analyses of the performance curves (section 6.2.5): overestimation in lower and an under-
estimation in higher winds is available at high TI values (20 %). In the total production
these cancel each other out and reduce the averaged performance slightly.

In the analyses of the eect of stability on the performance curves (section 6.2.6),
temperature dependence became apparent. In cooler conditions ( 20 C) the dierence
between stable and unstable stratication is less marked and has a slightly higher pro-
duction in unstable stratication. At higher temperatures ( 25 C) a clear behaviour of
the power curve is recognised, whereas stable conditions are signicantly better for the
production.

43
 Discussion & Conclusion

The power curve analyses for the wind shear exponent (section 6.2.7) was just per-
formed for the Indian turbines. At all temperatures, the power curve with higher wind
shear (0.20) were better than at low wind shear (0.05). The higher the temperature, the
greater the dierence between the production at high and low wind shear.

The stability inuences the thermally induced turbulence, where the wind shear induces
the mechanical turbulence.
At unstable stratication, the ground temperature is higher than at higher layers. This
temperature dierences produce thermal updraft (vertical air mass moving) and ground
friction. That means with unstable stratication is the turbulence intensity higher. The
vertical motions mix the layers, leading to a small wind shear.
Stable layers have the opposite eect. They are usually prevalent at night with strong
cooling of the ground and consists of separated various layers. A vertical exchange between
the layers does not take place and thus the turbulence is low. However, the wind speeds
in the dierent layers can vary signicantly and so the wind shear index becomes large.
At low temperatures ( 20 C) the power curves are close to the reference if the parame-
ters were near to the standard conditions (15 C, 1013.25 hP a, 0 % humidity, 1.225 kg/m3
and 0 % TI).
At higher temperatures ( 25 C) increased the deviation from the reference apparent
when the wind turbines are produced in an unstable stratied atmosphere, i.e. at low
wind shear and high turbulence. In a thermally unstable stratication, the wind turbine
is exposed to high loads caused by permanent changing wind speeds. The production is
reduced, because the optimum of the wind energy cannot be extracted from the wind.

The analyses of the precipitation data (section 6.2.8) has shown, decreasing power
curves during rain in cold conditions. As Molly (1990) pointed out, in case it rains at these
optimum aerodynamic conditions (temperatures around 15 C), the undisturbed laminar
ow around the blades is interrupted by the impinging drops and the power production
decreases.
Vice versa, the rain eect works at high temperatures, the boundary layer on the blades
is destroyed and the surface is changed. The rain mixes the boundary layer and reduces
the turbulence in the vicinity of the turbine. Thus, the turbulence intensity is reduced and
the production capacity is increased. In addition, the eect of the cleaning of the rotor is
not negligible. Moderate to heavy rainfall can have a cleansing eect and an improvement
in the production can be achieved.
In summary it can be said that at lower temperatures, the negative eects of the rain
(surface change, turbulence generation) predominate, whereas at high temperatures and
worse production performance curves are improved by rain.

44
The solution to the riddle
After the implementation and evaluation of the various analyses and the discussion of the
eect of the parameters for energy production, one question remains unresolved: Why
is the power curve, which is represented by normalised wind speed, still dependent on
temperature and density (see gure 7.1a)?
As describted in chapter 5.4, the normalised wind speed was established directly using
the relationship between performance and density. The equation for the normalisation
results in equation 5.3.
As shown in gure 7.1b, the normalisation of the wind speed, respectively the density
correction of the power curve, works partially. After the inuences of all other meteorolog-
ical parameters have largely been excluded, it is an eect which is also density-dependent
and not aected by the correction desired. From equation 5.2 this means that cp is not a
constant, but depends on density.

(a) (b)

Figure 7.1.: (a) Power curve for two dierent densities. (b) Power curve for cleaned and
normalised wind speed data for all four test turbines together from 01/2011 to
06/2013.

As mentioned in section 2.3, the aerodynamic principle of buoyancy is used for driving
the rotor by the wind. For this lift coecient, angle of attack, area of attack, ow speed
and air density are crucial. In order to evaluate the lift and the quality of the aerodynamic
system, the rotor power coecient cp is considered. It indicates the ratio of extractable
mechanical power to the power contained in the air stream. Thus it represents a kind of
eciency of the rotor. The maximum value is 59 % (see chapter 2.4), which is lower
due to losses at the turbine in practice. cp was calculated using the power equation 2.6
and plotted in the diagram 7.2 as a function of wind speed for dierent densities. Europe2
is shown, as representative for all test turbines. It can be clearly seen that cp hardly
changes for high density values. As the density decreases below a certain level, the shape
of the graph changes. From 1.20 kg/m3 (magenta line) cp does not follow the other graphs
completely. Deviations are at the wind speeds between 8 and 11 m/s shown. At a density

45
 Discussion & Conclusion

of 1.15 kg/m3 (blue line), the behaviour is completely dierent, for all wind speeds, cp is
clearly below the other lines. This shows a density- and temperature-dependent behaviour
of the rotor and the buoyancy.

Figure 7.2.: Diagram of wind speed in dependence of cp for dierent densities at test turbine
Europe2.

As already mentioned, Reynolds Number (Re) has a big inuence on the buoyancy of tur-
bine blades. The eect of dierent Re is in chapter 2.3 shown, but in short, the behaviour of
proles at low Re is worse and thus the power output decreases. Re (equation 2.4) depends
on air density, ow speed, depth of prole, dynamic and kinematic viscosity. That means,
at high temperatures and low densities the Re decreases. Similarly behaviour exists, in
high humidity. Besides, the viscosity is also temperature dependent. The temperature
respectively density also plays a role in the buoyancy (equation 2.1). That means, high
temperatures reduce the lift, slows the rotation and the ow speed. Thus, the temperature
changes three important and directly proportional values of Re, directly through equa-
tion 2.4, slowing down the ow speed and change in viscosity. This means that at high
temperature, the values of Re becomes smaller and approaches the critical Re.
Re is not equal for the entire blade, the prole depths are dierent and thus the Re.
Separations caused by low Re occurs most frequently at the wide prole surfaces, such as
the blade root. The blades tips, usually with small width, run in super critical Re area.
To conrm this hypothesis of separation due to the subcritical Re, a complex three-
dimensional modeling of the proles needs to be created. Likewise, visual tests of the ow
with wool threads attached to the blade surface and photos could be also performed. Or
an investigation of the pollution of the blade with regard to turbulent separations could
be done. From afar the fastest and easiest way to test this hypothesis is to implement a
new turbine routine that responds to slowing torques with pitching of the blades. After
installing that new routine by the turbine operator the turbine performance curve shows an
improvement and a conrmation of the temperature-Reynolds explanation, see gure 7.3.

46
Figure 7.3.: Power curve for test turbine Croatia with old and new turbine routine from
1st to 21/June/2013.

There are three ways to change the behavior of the wind turbines at high temperatures.
First, the installation of a new routine which reacts sensitively to changes in the revolution
number and Reynolds number, and adjustes the blade angle. Secondly, the tting of vortex
generators to the blades, and, thirdly, a faster rotation of the system (higher torque),
thus, also increasing the ow speed over the prole. All three options prevent or delay a
seperation, which leads to the known result, namely poor production performance.
This result of a density- and temperature-dependent ow separation was found in this
work for the regarded turbine type and turbine blades. Since blade geometry and operation
characteristics also play a crucial role for the particularities of the ow over the blades, the
deviation of actual power from reference can be turbine-dependent.

47
A. Appendix
Annual rainfall in India

Figure A.1.: Map of annual rainfall in India. (Planemad, last visit 24.04.2013)

49
List of Figures

1.1. Produced power as a function of wind speed for India2: reference power
curve for this turbine type (black line), 10 minutes mean values (blue points)
and wind speed class averaged power production (red line). Eects of density
are corrected and the nacelle transfer function was carried out. Period:
01/2011 to 12/2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.1. Simplied representation of the atmospheric boundary layer. [Figure from

Gasch and Twele (2005) has been modied by author.] . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Vertical wind prole with (a) large ground slope and (b) with obstacles.
(Gasch and Twele, 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. Schematic representation of a wind turbine with dimensions of the ones used
in this thesis. [Figure from Lundquist (2010) has been modied by author.] 5
2.4. Aerodynamic blade geometry with lift respectively drag vectors and angle of
attack. [Figure from Gurit (UK) Technical Dept (2009) has been modied
by author.] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5. Rotor blade dimensions. [Figure from Hafner (2009) modied by author.] . 6
2.6. Glide ratio as a function of Reynolds Number for various blade proles.
(Molly, 1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7. Behaviour of the boundary layer at the blade surface with low (a), medium
(b) and high (c) Reynolds Number. (Miley, 1982) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8. Reference power curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3.1. Three dierent turbulence intensity classes from Standard IEC 61400-1 A1. 12
3.2. Inuence of TI on power production. [Figure adapted from Hau (2008)] . . 14
3.3. Power curve of a selected medium-sized wind turbine for various air density
values. (Kaldellis, 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.4. Logarithmic wind prole with dierent wind shear exponents, for stable
atmospheric stratication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.5. (a) Logarithmic wind prole inuenced by atmospheric stability. (Petersen
et al., 1997) (b) Power curve for dierent stability classes. [Figure adapted
from Wharton and Lundquist (2010)] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.6. Power curve without, light and heavy rain events. (Molly, 1990) . . . . . . 18

4.1. Annual variation of temperatures (monthly average) and precipitation (monthly

summation) for three years (2010 to 2013) with ERA-interim data, interpo-
lated to the coordinates of the turbines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

51
 List of Figures

4.2. Annual variation of temperatures (monthly average) and precipitation (monthly

summation) for three years (2010 to 2013) with ERA-interim data, interpo-
lated to the coordinates of the turbines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5.1. Diagram of acoustic virtual temperature vs. ambient temperature with dif-
ferent humidities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.2. Basic technical drawing of measurement setup at the wind turbine. . . . . 25
5.3. Example for (a) uncorrected and (b) corrected power curve with data of
turbine Europe2 for 2011 to 2013. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

6.1. Denition of the dependent variable P for the regression model. . . . . . 29

6.2. (a) Residuals for merged data set. (b) i and p-values for regression model
with dashed line in the lower plot that marks the signicance of 5 %. . . . 30
6.3. (a) Distribution of the relative frequency of wind speed for India1, India2,
Europe1 and Europe2 with data from January 2011 to June 2013. (b) Power
curve for data merge of all four test turbines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.4. (a) Distribution of relative frequencies of air temperature for all four test
turbines (Europe2, Europe1, India1 and India2), with data from 2011 till
July 2013. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test turbines for 5 and
35 1 C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.5. (a) Density distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test
turbines for 1.10 and 1.25 kg/m3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.6. (a) Humidity distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four test
turbines for dry (<50 %) and wet (85 - 100 %) conditions and temperatures
around 25 1 C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.7. (a) Turbulence distribution. (b) Turbulence in dependence of wind speed
for all four test turbines and the three IEC turbulence classes. (c) Power
curve for data merge of all four test turbines for turbulence intensities of
5 % and 20 %. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.8. (a) Stability distribution. Power curve for temperature dierences (stabil-
ity indicators) with stable (>-0.2 K), unstable (<-0.4 K) and neutral ( =-
0.38 K) conditions at constant temperatures at (b) 15 C and (c) 25 C. . . 36
6.9. (a) Distribution of the relative frequency of wind shear exponent for India1
and India2. (b) Power curve for data merge of all Indian test turbines for
wind shear distribution at 22 1 C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.10. Power curves for two dierent wind shear values for (a) 26 1 C and (b)
30 1 C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.11. (a) Precipitation distribution. (b) Power curve for data merge of all four
test turbines for precipitation intensity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.12. Power curves for rain events and dry conditions for (a) 5 1 C and (b)
20 1 C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

52
List of Figures

7.1. (a) Power curve for two dierent densities. (b) Power curve for cleaned and
normalised wind speed data for all four test turbines together from 01/2011
to 06/2013. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.2. Diagram of wind speed in dependence of cp for dierent densities at test
turbine Europe2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
7.3. Power curve for test turbine Croatia with old and new turbine routine from
1st to 21/June/2013. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

A.1. Map of annual rainfall in India. (Planemad, last visit 24.04.2013) . . . . . 49

53
List of Tables
3.1. Roughness length for dierent terrains. (Rosas, 2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.1. Mean values from ERA-interim data (2011 to 2013) with interpolated to the
coordinates of the turbines. Annual, winter mean (November to April) and
summer mean (May to September), annual mean air density and monthly
mean precipitation sum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5.1. Overview of time range and the measuring instruments for all parameters
used at the dierent test turbines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2. Conditions and lter for deletion of error values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

6.1. Summary of all considered parameters with the respective deviation from
the reference curve in per cent and the dierences between the deviations
for each parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

55
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59
Acknowledgements
This work was developed in cooperation with several intuitions. It was a long and di-
cult journey, especially to write a meaningful and successful work and to unite all interests.

First, I thank my supervisor at the University of Innsbruck, Georg Mayr, for his contin-
uing helpfulness, brainstorming and willingness to supervise me. Equally important and
helpful were the discussions and presentations at the working group atmospheric dynam-
ics. Thanks for your time, help and motivational ideas.

Secondly, I would like to thank the company (which I do not mention here for privacy
reasons). To all colleagues who answered my never ending questions, helped me with the
organisation and conversion of the measurement and assisted me with words and deeds, I
thank rather warmly.

Besides the two large organisations, my family and friends were the third great help, so
if I got stuck or I came to falter, I always had a further support. Thank you.
In this group, my ance was the one who praised, criticised and motivated me the most.
Without him I would not have understood or questioned something. Many thanks for that.

61
Curriculum Vitae
Katharina Eichhorn
Leopoldstr. 32, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Born on 08 December 1986 in Sonneberg, Germany

Education
09/201010/2013 Master of Science in Meteorology at the University of Innsbruck,
IMGI - Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics Innsbruck
Master thesis: The change of power curves as a function of various
meteorological parameters
09/200604/2010 Bachelor of Science in Meteorology at Freie Universitt Berlin,
Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Meteorology
Bachelor thesis: Analyse von simulierten Windgeschwindigkeiten
ber Deutschland aus zwei verschiedenen Modellversionen des CLM
09/200305/2006 A-level at Staatliche Berufsbildende Schule Sonneberg
Focus subjects mathematics and electrical engineering

Professional Experience
05/201008/2010 Intern at the Institute of Meteorology, Freie Universitt Berlin
Compared simulated wind speeds of dierent local climate models
03/201005/2010 Intern at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam
Interpreted research results from lacustrine sediments
09/200910/2009 Intern at WIND-consult GmbH, Bargeshagen/Rostock
Long-term correlation of wind data for wind energy
08/200809/2008 Intern at Q.met GmbH, Wiesbaden
Worked in the editorial for weather forecasts

Skills
Language German (native), English (good), Spanish (elementary), French (el-
ementary)
IT Operating systems: Windows, Linux
Programming: Matlab, Fortran (77, 95), R, HTML, PHP, CSS
Programmes: LATEX, Microsoft Oce Applications, GH WindFarmer,
WindPRO

63
Eidesstattliche Erklrung
Ich erklre hiermit an Eides statt durch meine eigenhndige Unterschrift, dass ich die
vorliegende Arbeit selbststndig verfasst und keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen
und Hilfsmittel verwendet habe. An Stellen, die wrtlich oder inhaltlich den angegebenen
Quellen entnommen wurden, sind als solche kenntlich gemacht.
Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder hnlicher Form noch nicht als
Magister-/Master-/Diplomarbeit/Dissertation eingereicht.

Datum Unterschrift

65