Techno-economic design of wind farms: A multi-scenario cost-based application

Wind is a clean source of energy which is spread over wide globe regions. This natural source of energy encourages the planners and stakeholders establishing investments towards installation of wind farms. Wind energy experts are looking through efficient alternatives for the best utilization of the wind energy. Design of wind farms is a fundamental stage of wind energy projects. This study aims to address this issue by considering wind farm design to reduce the levelized cost of the generated wind energy. In the first part of the paper, an analysis of previous research works is carried out to find the latest advancements concerning the design of the wind farm layouts. In the next step, a real application, geo-located in Iran, investigates the effect of different layouts for the wind turbines. A cost approach based on the net present value (NPV) and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is used. The results show the optimum positioning of the wind turbines within the site to minimize interferences among the blades maximizing the economic return on the investment.