Research

Wind farm efficiency assessed by WRF with a statistical-dynamical approach

Read the article

Abstract

A pledge to increase the share of renewable energies has led to a focus on offshore wind energy in many western European countries. With an increasing number of offshore wind farms to be installed it becomes important to understand (I) the degree to which wakes from neighbouring wind farms affect the power production of a target wind farm and (II) how large wind farms can get if they are to remain efficient and productive power generators. The modelling of wind farm wake flows is challenging, since it includes processes from the micro- to mesoscale meteorology. We use the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model that allows us to simulate mesoscale features of wind farm wakes. Its limited horizontal resolution – in microscale terms – however, requires flow characteristics, such as single turbine wakes, to be parametrised.