Fatigue Loads on a Pitch Regulated Wind Turbine Operating in a Coastal Wind Turbine Array

The objective of this analysis is to improve the foundations for designing wind turbines in wind turbine arrays and wind farms. The analysis is carried out using load measurements on a Vestas/DWT Windane 34 turbine operating in the Kappel wind farm in the southern part of Denmark.

This report describes the fatigue loadings on the wind turbine operating in a coastal wind farm. The wind farm consists of 24 wind turbines erected in a single row, under such conditions that it has given the opportunity for investigation of the loads on a turbine operating in a very low-turbulent site in different nearwake situations.

The loads are analyzed by means of statistics and fatigue, with the latter one represented by Rainflow counting distributions and damage equivalent load analysis.

The analysis shows important differences in fatigue load spectra in different wake situations. These changes could contribute significantly to the life time consumption of the wind turbine components. However, in some cases it is possible to have the opposite situation, depending on e.g. wind farm layout and background turbulence intensity.