Owing to the large number of wind turbines (WTs) and long transmission lines in large wind farms (WFs), the wake effect and power loss in a WF have a more significant impact on the active output of the WF. The improper operation of WTs decreases their lifetime and increases their maintenance costs. To minimise the levelised production cost of a WF, this study proposes an optimal active and reactive power cooperative dispatch strategy that considers the minimisation of total WF power loss, maximisation of WF lifetime, and maximisation of total WF power generation. The proposed strategy is compared with a traditional control strategy in a 125 MW WF, and the simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.