With the growing global utilisation of wind energy, lowering of its levelised cost of energy is pursued. This effort is hindered by wind turbine wakes and their detrimental effects on wind farm profitability. Most currently researched wake mitigation methods are based on wind farm system-level interventions, and there is a research gap on individual wind turbine design wake alleviation measures.

This thesis investigates the wake-diffusion rotor concept, a wind turbine design with an outboard shifted thrust distribution along the blade, and its effects on wake mitigation and power generation in wind farms.
Three wind turbine rotors with equivalent thrust coefficient are modelled as actuator disks in a RANS CFD software PyWakeEllipSys, corresponding to an inboard shifted thrust distribution, a conventional thrust distribution, and an outboard shifted thrust distribution representing the wake-diffusion rotor concept. Investigated scenarios include a single wind turbine and rows of three and ten wind turbines aligned to the inflow.
Compared to the baseline case, outboard thrust distribution produces lower wake velocity deficits, increased momentum transfer and increased turbulence generation. The wake-diffusion rotor concept increases the wind farm power generation by 3.8 % and 2.5 % in the three and ten wind turbine row scenarios respectively, with the largest relative gain in wind turbine power of 13.9 % for the second wind turbine in the row. Consecutive wind turbines in the row experience diminishing gains. The inboard shifted thrust distribution had opposite effects for all of these aspects.
The benefits in wake mitigation and power generation in wind farms from using the wake-diffusion rotor concept are concluded to come from higher turbulence mixing caused by the outboard shifted thrust distribution. Recommendations on its use for maximum effectiveness are given. Future research could focus on the design implementation of this concept, investigate combinations with other wake mitigation methods and perform parametric wind farm AEP studies.

The human eye has turned itself back to the sky with the commercialisation of the space industry, and a new goal has been set. Setting foot on the Red Planet is the next stage of the human exploration of the universe. The travel to Mars is very lengthy and costly, nonetheless the planet still shows great potential for sustaining human life. To make this a possibility, there is a need for locally sourced energy. The presence of (re-)usable resources on Mars could pave the way to further expand the exploration to an interplanetary scale, and successfully maintain a human presence outside the Earth's atmosphere. The availability of energy will be a key indicator for the success of the human race in the colonisation of Mars. To answer this call for the need to generate locally sourced energy, the design of a renewable energy system was started by a team of students and staff from the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology: The Arcadian Renewable Energy System (ARES). The energy system will power the construction and operations of a Mars habitat, to support the livability of humans. The system will use complementary renewable energy sources integrated into a microgrid, to sustainably harvest energy from local Martian environment and resources. To ensure the design will be able to fulfil its purpose, a mission need statement and a project objective statement are generated: Mission Need Statement: To provide renewable energy supply of 10 kW to a Mars habitat. Project Objective Statement: Design a renewable energy supply system, primarily focusing on wind energy, which provides 10kW to a Mars habitat, by 10 students in 10 weeks. Synthesis Exercise (DSE) will last a total of 10 weeks, beginning on the 20th of April, ending on the 2nd of July, with a poster session and symposium. The DSE is in collaboration with the Architectural faculty, where a separate team of students is working on a rhizomatic Mars habitat project as part of an ESA competition, which has an ESA-ESTEC feasibility study proposal incorporated. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this project, it is important that the DSE team produces a complete and verified design as the outcome. The Design The design the DSE has come up with consists of two energy production systems, namely the primary and secondary energy system providing wind and solar energy, respectively. In addition the system also consists of a power management and energy storage system.