Sandia’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Program Newsletter highlights key activities, articles on current research projects, latest reports, papers, and events published by Sandia. This monthly newsletter is intended for wind industry partners, stakeholders, universities and potential partners.
This issue contains recent news stories related to both wind and water power in support of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Wind and Water Power Program.
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Wind EnergyWind Plant OptimizationSandia Wake Imaging System Modeling Tool
The Sandia Wake Imaging System (SWIS) is being developed to improve the spatial and temporal resolution capabilities of velocity measurements within wind farms. These high-resolution velocity measurements are needed to provide the necessary data for validating high-fidelity simulations. SWIS uses a technology (explained thoroughly in a previous report) where the velocity component measured and quality of the measurement depends on the configuration of the transmitter (laser sheet), receiver (camera), and viewing region. As a result of the complicated measurement dependence on setup configuration and the need to meet the validation requirements at many locations in a wind turbine wake, a new tool that models the physics of SWIS has been developed to better predict and anticipate the system’s performance when deployed at the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility (Figure 1).
With this new tool we can more effectively plan and optimize testing configurations for different flow structures of interest at SWiFT. The tool is a MATLAB-based program that models the three-dimensional arrangement and physics of the transmitter, receiver, and viewing region. Figure 2 shows an example of both the ideal and expected velocity measurement using the SWIS setup in Figure 1.
Representative velocity fields at the SWiFT facility, produced using high-fidelity simulation methods, are imported into the program; the program calculates the ideal velocity , along with the noise equivalent velocity, a representation of the system measurement uncertainty. The simulated measurement adds the calculated noise equivalent velocity to the ideal velocity, resulting in the degraded image presented on the right in Figure 2. The example case shows the results of a representative flow field covering a 5 m × 5 m area with a noise equivalent velocity of ± 1 m/s displayed in the camera frame of reference. The SWIS modeling tool provides a quick and efficient method for analyzing and optimizing the system configuration and setup before deployment at SWiFT in July or August of 2015.
Tommy Herges, (505) 284-9760.
Materials, Reliability, & StandardsIEC 61400-26 Meeting
The first IEC 61400-26 meeting of 2015 was held in San Diego, CA on January 27 -29, 2015, with Roger Hill and Ben Karlson in attendance. IEC 61400-26, “Availability of wind turbines and wind turbine plants”, is a Technical Specification that currently includes three parts: 1) Terms for time-based availability of a wind turbine generating system; 2) Terms for production-based availability of a wind turbine generating system; and 3) Terms for a time and production based availability of a wind power plant. Both 61400-26-1 and 61400-26-2 (covering the first two parts itemized above) are finalized and published. The two-and-a-half day meeting consisted of brief presentations regarding specific portions of the part 3 Technical Specification, followed by discussion and finalization of wording in the document. A draft of part 3 is expected to be complete by the next IEC TC88 meeting which will be held on April 20-25, 2015 in Austria.
Ben Karlson presented to the group on the past history of and future plans for the Continuous Reliability for Enhancement for Wind (CREW) project and the interest in the creation of a reliability specification.
The working group discussed the scope of 61400-26 and concluded that reliability does fall within it. The IEC 61400-26 committee plans to propose the continuance of the group in order to add a part 4 that addresses the terms for reliability of a wind turbine generating system.
Ben Karlson, (505) 377-3774
AWEA Wind Power Project O&M and Safety Seminar
Ben Karlson attended the AWEA Project Operations, Maintenance and Safety Seminar in San Diego, CA on February 2- 3, 2015. Day 1 seminar topics included operator's perspectives on the performance of wind power plants and insights into strategies to manage these assets. Day 2 of the seminar dealt with more specific pieces of a wind power plant and the key differences and challenges of those pieces, which included rotors, drivetrain, balance of plant, and electrical and SCADA. Session tracks on health and safety in the wind industry were held in parallel with this track.
Sandia continued discussions with operators about the new direction for the CREW project and the status of the agreements needed prior to any data sharing.
Additionally, Bob Sherwin of Vermont Wind presented on the recent activities of the IEC 61400-26 and included a slide on the new CREW direction.
Ben Karlson, (505) 377-3774
Siting & Barrier MitigationWind Turbine Radar Interference Mitigation Working Group Quarterly Meeting
On January 27th and 28th the Wind Turbine Radar Interference Mitigation (WTRIM) Working Group held a quarterly meeting at the MIT Lincoln Lab facility in Crystal City, Virginia. More than 30 people attended the meeting including representatives from the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Department of Homeland Security, in addition to those from MIT Lincoln Lab and Sandia National Laboratories.
Day 1 began with preliminary results of the WTRIM Field Test #1 conducted in October 2014 being presented by the participating laboratory and industry participants. The day continued with an update on the Memorandum Of Understanding among the participating Federal Agencies along with a presentation on a new Strategic Approach document for the group being initiated by DOE.
The second day began with presentations on various mitigation technologies, including new algorithms and infill radar systems, being developed by the WTRIM members. This was followed by a series of talks on modeling and simulation tools used in private industry and by government and a discussion of how these computation tools could be improved and possibly integrated.
The meeting wrapped up with a discussion about next steps for the WTRIM group to transfer the knowledge gained from the field tests conducted over the past few years into solutions for the industry to implement.
Brian Naughton, 505-844-4033.
Water PowerWave Energy: Device Performance
SNL Visit to Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory
Kelley Ruehl and Budi Gunawan from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) traveled to Corvallis, OR to visit theHinsdale Wave Research Laboratory (HWRL) at Oregon State University (OSU) on Feb 21st-22nd. The purpose of the visit was to meet with OSU staff and researchers who are supporting the planned WEC-Sim validation tank tests scheduled for Spring/Summer 2015. WEC-Sim is an open source code developed jointly by SNL and NREL to simulate the performance of wave energy converters (WECs) when subject to operational waves. The primary objective of the planned experimental testing is to generate a data set that can be used to validate the WEC-Sim code. This data set will also be released in the public domain. The secondary objective of the planned experimental testing is to provide insight on WEC measurement techniques that will benefit industry and future DOE funded experimental testing campaigns.
Kelley Ruehl, (505) 284-8724.
Bud Gunawan, (505) 845-8869.
Extreme Conditions Modeling Teams Holds Working Meeting
Following the recommendations from last summer’s Extreme Conditions Modeling (ECM) Workshop, researchers from NREL and Sandia are pursuing research targeted at reducing uncertainty and risk in the WEC design process by providing developers with a better means of predicting survival loads. A two-day meeting was held in Albuquerque, NM January 21-22, during which the team assessed the progress of various subtasks and performed work towards project goals.
Ryan Coe, (505) 845-9064.
Wave Energy: Array Performance & Environmental EffectsSNL-SWAN Webinar #4 in Annex IV Environmental Webinar Series
On February 3, 2015 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory hosted Webinar #4 in the Annex IV Environmental Webinar Series on Effects of Energy Removal on Physical Systems. Three talks were given on the subject of environmental effects of MHK energy removal. The first two talks focused on tidal energy, and the last talk on “Effects of wave energy converters on wave and sediment circulation.”, presented by Kelley Ruehl, Jesse Roberts and Craig Jones, focused on ocean wave energy The presentation was focused on Sandia National Laboratories’ development and application of SNL-SWAN, an open source spectral wave code that has been modified to more accurately represent the energy extraction of wave energy converters. The webinar was attended by over fifty participants from all over the world, and sparked a lot of interest in the development and application of the SNL-SWAN code.
Jesse Roberts, (505) 844-5730.
Kelley Ruehl, (505) 284-8724.
Wave Energy: Reference ModelsReference Model Project, Point Designs to Support Open Source MHK R&D
Three National Laboratories and DOE’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office met January 23, 2015 to discuss DOE’s Reference Model Project (RMP) and outreach efforts to promote the use of RMP open-source point designs and methodologies by marine hydrokinetic (MHK) researchers and developers. This multi-year effort launched six MHK technology point designs as reference models to benchmark performance and costs. In addition, a rigorous methodology was developed for design and analysis of MHK technologies and estimation of capital costs, operational costs, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The public RMP web site includes supporting design and analysis reports, 3D CAD geometry files, and Excel spreadsheet files that provide a detailed cost breakdown structure and LCOE for each reference model. Additional outreach efforts will target MHK researchers and developers at national and international conferences with sessions on marine renewable energy. A one-page brochure summarizing the project highlights and web site will be distributed, and technical sessions that highlight the use of RMP open-source products by researchers and developers will be organized. For more details on this project and its products go to http://energy.sandia.gov/rmp.
Vincent Neary, (505) 288-2638.
Current Energy: Array Performance & Environmental EffectsDTOcean: CFD array mixing test case
DTOcean is an international collaborative project that has 18 partners spread across 11 countries with the aim of accelerating the industrial development of ocean energy power generation via the development of design tools specific to ocean energy arrays. As one part of the overall array design tool, the DTOcean team is developing a fast-running, easy to use Current Energy Capture (CEC) array spacing tool that considers tidal array performance vs. power generation efficiency. In support of this effort, Sandia has been assisting in the development of the device wake modeling sub module that determines the properties of the wake generated by tidal turbines (i.e. wake growth and dissipation).
Recently, Sandia was asked to assist the DTOcean team by performing a CFD simulation of an example CEC array for model validation. DTOcean provided a staggered 15 turbine CEC array configuration for numerical testing, and Sandia generated a flow domain surrounding the turbines. The geometry was meshed and solved using the OpenFOAM CFD package with a custom flow turbine model developed by Sandia using a methodology formulated by Thomas Roc[1].
Figure 4, above, shows the CFD solution of the provided CEC array in a channel flow. The solution highlights features such as blockage effects and the effects of flow mixing within this specific domain. For example, the CFD solution shows the flow speed increase between channel turbines resulting from the blockage effect of the turbines. In some places, the increased flow is as high as 1.3 times the incoming flow velocity.
The CFD solution also shows significant mixing effects. While the increased flow due to blackage is distributed evenly between turbines in the leading row of turbines, the increased flow in subsequent rows is confined much closer to the turbine wake due to mixing with the slower flow of the preceding wakes.
1. Thomas Roc, Daniel C. Conley, Deborah Greaves,Methodology for Tidal Turbine Representation in Ocean Circulation Model, Renewable Energy Volume 51, March 2013.
Chris Chartrand, (505) 845-8750.
Jesse Roberts, (505) 844-5730.
Preliminary Roza Canal hydrodynamic modeling for determining HK deployment effects
Sandia has been assisting the US Bureau of Reclamation and a hydrokinetic energy developer, Instream Energy System, in conducting a study to determine the performance of a 25 kW vertical axis turbine (3 meter rotor diameter) and its deployment effects on the Roza Canal water operations. Sandia is currently developing a numerical model to predict the hydrodynamic effects of turbine deployment in the canal.
Sandia is presently using an open source software, Delft3D, with an enhanced capability for simulating the hydrodynamic effects of MHK turbines, developed by Deltares and Sandia. Sandia has started developing a preliminary model of the Roza Canal using a coarse mesh and field measurement data as input boundary conditions. The initial simulation result shows similar hydrodynamic effects to those observed from the measurements. Water velocity decreases immediately behind the turbine, while at the same time it increases on the sides of the turbine due to turbine blockage (Fig. 5 left). Velocity deficit at the rotor hub-centerline extends to around 12 rotor diameter downstream of the turbine. This is consistent with the results from a number of laboratory studies (which observed 90% velocity recovery at 10 to 20 rotor diameter downstream of the turbine). The simulated water level shows a decrease of water level immediately behind the turbine, due to energy extraction. The widening of the cross-section, at approximately 15 rotor diameter downstream of the turbine, introduces a strong turbulence mixing and reduces the flow speed, which seems to speed up the water level recovery process.
Budi Gunawan, (505) 845-8869.
Chris Chartrand, (505) 845-8750.
Jesse Roberts, (505) 844-5730.
Vince Neary, (505) 284-2199.
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