Layout analysis for floating offshore wind farms considering wake interference.

This article focuses on the development and validation of a coupled analytical model for simulating floating offshore wind farms, incorporating platform motions, wake interference, turbine dynamics, and wind farm layout. The model adapts the Bastankhah wake model to account for wake deflection caused by the roll and pitch motions of floating turbine platforms, enabling efficient time-domain simulations of wind farms with various layouts and turbine spacings. Using a 16-turbine, 80 MW floating wind farm based on the NERL 5 MW turbine and OC4 platform as a case study, the research demonstrates that optimizing the wind farm layout angle according to local wind and wave conditions can improve annual power generation by up to 3.61 GWh (approximately 1%). The study concludes that avoiding direct wake interference through appropriate turbine spacing (around six rotor diameters) and layout orientation is essential for maximizing efficiency, while noting limitations such as the focus on matrix layouts and a single sea area.