Proof of Concept for Wind Turbine Wake Investigations with the RPAS SUMO

The Small Unmanned Meteorological Observer (SUMO) has been operated in the vicinity of five research turbines of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) at the test site Wieringermeer. The intention of the campaign was to proof the capability of the system for wind turbine wake investigations also for situations above rated wind speed. In rather high wind conditions of 15-20 ms−1 on May 10, 2014, the system showed a satisfying in-flight behavior and performed five racetrack flights. The racetrack patterns flown parallel to the row of the five turbines (four flights downstream the turbine row, one upstream) enable the characterization and investigation of the strength, i.e. the reduction in the mean wind, and structure, i.e. the horizontal extension and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) distribution of single turbine wakes.