Systems and methods for prioritized wake steering of wind turbines in a wind farm

Abstract

A system and method operate a wind farm having a plurality of wind turbines, and include determining a wind direction of a wind affecting the wind farm. Based on the wind direction, at least one upwind turbine is identified that produces a wake effect on one or more downwind wind turbines, the upwind wind turbine and affected downwind wind turbines defining a cluster. Based on a current yaw position of the upwind turbine and the wind direction, a yaw steer is determined for the upwind turbine to reduce the wake effect on the downstream wind turbines in the cluster. The yaw steer is based on increasing a net energy gain from the cluster, the net energy gain determined by subtracting an energy cost of the yaw steer from an increased energy production of the cluster resulting from the yaw steer. The upwind wind turbine is controlled to change yaw position in accordance with the yaw steer when the net energy gain satisfies a minimum threshold level.