Investigation into the optimal wind turbine layout patterns for a Hong Kong offshore wind farm

Optimal WT (wind turbine) layout patterns relate in detail to the specific conditions of OWF (offshore wind farm) environments and therefore each is different. This paper presents an investigation into optimal WT layout patterns for three OWF configurations (aligned, staggered, scattered) in HK (Hong Kong) waters. A hypothetical OWF (6930 m × 9072 m) are analysed based on twenty years of wind data (1992–2011). For the aligned and staggered WFs, different WT layout separations are studied. The separations varied between 5.0D and 15.0D along the PWD (prevailing wind direction) and 5.0D to 12.0D in the CWD (crosswind direction), where D is the WT rotor diameter. A range of 25 and 45 WTs are placed in the scattered WF, with their layout optimized using the Multi-Population Genetic Algorithm. WF performance is reported for the best ten layout patterns following studies of many different layouts. Results show for this hypothetical OWF, that the optimal WT separation is 14.5D in the PWD and 11.0D in the CWD for the aligned and staggered cases. Thirty WTs are recommended as the optimum number for the scattered WF. The LCOE (levelized costs of energy) were calculated in HK$ terms 1.474/kWh (aligned), 1.467/kWh (staggered), and 1.290/kWh (scattered). APG (annual energy generation) is determined to be 40.80 × 108 kWh (aligned), 40.42 × 108 kWh (staggered), and 33.98 × 108 kWh (scattered), representing 9.48% (aligned), 9.39% (staggered), and 7.89% (scattered) of the annual electricity consumption for HK in 2012. The approach presented can be regarded as a generic method for WT layout optimization.