Using LIDAR on Wind Turbines for Yaw Error Correction: A Financial Prospective

Wind energy and especially offshore wind energy faces an uphill battle in the United States to become a mainstream source of energy generation due to its high price relative to fossil fuels. The wind industry is looking for methods to reduce the costs of energy production by improving the efficiency of wind turbines and reducing their operation and maintenance costs. Correction of yaw error is one way to lower the price of wind energy. Yaw error is the angle between the turbine’s central axis in horizontal plane and the wind flow direction. LIDAR devices are used to correct yaw error, however they are expensive. Therefore, there is a need to develop a return on investment model (ROI) to calculate the cost trade-offs of using such systems. This work reviews how yaw error affects the performance and maintenance costs of wind turbines, discuss the development of an ROI model and provide a case study with two scenarios where LIDAR is used to correct the yaw error of an onshore and an offshore wind farm.