Cost of energy (COE) is the most important single factor in deployment of renewables in the energy system. Reduction of COE is, among other things, directly related to operational control of Wind Power Plants (WPP) as a whole and the individual wind turbines (WT) within them. In the Total Control project the COE reduction will be pursued by developing and validating advanced integrated WPP/WT control schemes, where all essential interactions between the WPP WT’s are accounted for including both production and load aspects. Optimal WPP control is traditionally formulated as a one-parameter optimization problem focusing on the WPP production only. However, ultimately the optimal WPP performance should result from a multi objective optimization problem, where the optimal economic performance of a WPP is pursued over the WPP life time, conditioned on external grid demands. This is what Total Control is about. The suggested integrated WPP/WT control approach seeks the optimal economical WPP revenue – i.e. the optimal economic balance between WPP power production and WPP operational costs. This is done by developing hierarchically coupled WPP and WT control schemes conditioned on a set of superior grid operator demands. In the WPP control design phase information is only fed from the WPP controller to the individual WT controllers, whereas in on-line operational control available WT and WPP flow field information will be assimilated into the WPP control for optimal system performance. Furthermore, the WPP controller will also make use of current market information (e.g. energy price, demand for ancillary services etc.) as well as information about the state of individual turbines (e.g. current operational state, maintenance requirements and component lifetime consumption) to allow COE objectives to be optimised dynamically.

The FarmConners project supports the implementation and industrialisation of Wind Farm Control (WFC) as an additional feature for the development and operation of wind power plants. It brings together actors in all relevant fields connected with the market uptake of WFC: research institutes, industry and certification agencies. FarmConners will coordinate a reliable assessment of the WFC possibilities, promising more green power from existing and upcoming assets for the price of a software update. WFC technology brings a collaborative approach to wind power plant design and operation, mitigating the losses due to turbine-turbine interaction within the plant. Accordingly, it promises an increase in power production and a decrease in structural loads while providing better integration of wind power in the grid. Additionally, it enables better revenue management, especially for the upcoming flexible electricity markets, making wind power “market fit”, which in turn decreases the project cost and increases the share of the leading green power source. FarmConners will provide a unique platform for the marketability of this feature; bringing the state-of-the-art achievements, ongoing projects and industrial interest together to remove barriers for commercial implementation of WFC.