“Evolutionary algorithms” are helping researchers figure out where to put wind turbines.
“An evolutionary algorithm is a mathematical process where potential solutions keep being improved a step at a time until the optimum is reached,” say University of Adelaide researchers. “As with evolution, each population or `set of solutions’ from a new generation should get better. These solutions can be evaluated in parallel to speed up the computation.”
Factors that have to be considered in placement of wind farms include wake effects, the minimum amount of land needed, wind factors and the complex aerodynamics of wind turbines.
Read more at University of Adelaide