Determining a Suitable Location for Wind Turbines Using Inverse Solution and Mast Data in a Mountainous Terrain

Optimum design of a wind farm will ensure high output rated power and low operating costs. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum location to install a wind turbine in a mountainous terrain using computational fluid dynamics. This purpose is achieved by employing inverse method, with the objective of maximizing the efficiency of the turbines while minimizing loss expenses caused by placing them in a less optimum region. Boundary conditions are determined by steepest decent optimization method. 2-D mountain geometry alongside the mast data installed on the flat area are the references of evaluating the performance of the proposed method in this paper. Results indicated that in current turbulent flow, separation occurs in atmospheric boundary layer due to an adverse pressure gradient. Furthermore resultant pressure contours demonstrated that air flow pressure decreases over the hill and its minimum value is reported at the top of the hill, thus adverse pressure gradient happens in the back hill. Simulation results revealed a considerable difference among the power outputs of the same turbine installed at different points of the domain. Turbine performance in the initial installation point and in the point derived from the algorithm is then compared. The performance reported is nineteen times better in the new suggested location.