Comparison and verification of the deviation between guaranteed and measured wind turbine power performance in complex terrain

•We examine the difference in power output of wind turbines operating at a wind farm.•Wind turbine power output showed large differences at a complex terrain wind farm.•Power output of one representative wind turbine cannot be generalized.•Power performance verification should be conducted on many or all of the wind turbines.

After a wind farm construction is completed, the power performance guaranteed by the wind turbine manufacturer is usually verified based on the international standard IEC61400-12-1. Because of an insufficient project budget and the constraint on the minimum separation distance of the meteorological mast from the installed wind turbines, it is a common practice to verify the power performance of one representative wind turbine and apply the result as the reference power performance guarantee for all the wind turbines. In this study, the power performances of five wind turbines operating at a commercial wind farm located on complex terrain were measured and analyzed. The results showed large power performance differences between the turbines. Because the power performance of one representative wind turbine cannot guarantee the power performances of all the wind turbines in a wind farm located on complex terrain, we submit that it is necessary to carry out power performance verifications on many or all of the wind turbines.