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Investigation of model parameters for high-resolution wind energy forecasting: case studies over simple and complex terrain

Journal Article · · Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
 [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
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We report that wind power forecasting, turbine micrositing, and turbine design require high-resolution simulations of atmospheric flow. Case studies at two West Coast North American wind farms, one with simple and one with complex terrain, are explored using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Both synoptically and locally driven events that include some ramping are considered. The performance of the model with different grid nesting configurations, turbulence closures, and grid resolutions is investigated through comparisons with observation data. For the simple terrain site, no significant improvement in the simulation results is found when using higher resolution. In contrast, for the complex terrain site, there is significant improvement when using higher resolution, but only during the locally driven event. This suggests the possibility that computational resources could be spared under certain conditions, for example when the topography is adequately resolved at coarser resolutions. Physical parameters such as soil moisture have a very large effect, but mostly for the locally forced events for both simple and complex terrain. The effect of the PBL scheme choice varies significantly depending on the meteorological forcing and terrain. On average, prognostic TKE equation schemes perform better than non-local eddy viscosity schemes.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1860703
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1496245
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-611332; 711897
Journal Information:
Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Journal Name: Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics Journal Issue: N/A Vol. 134; ISSN 0167-6105
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (3)

Sensitivity of Turbine-Height Wind Speeds to Parameters in Planetary Boundary-Layer and Surface-Layer Schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal July 2016
Parametric and Structural Sensitivities of Turbine‐Height Wind Speeds in the Boundary Layer Parameterizations in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal June 2019
Crossing multiple gray zones in the transition from mesoscale to microscale simulation over complex terrain text January 2019

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Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
high-resolution simulations
ramping event
terrain complexity
wind energy forecasts