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Can mesoscale models capture the effect from cluster wakes offshore?

Journal Article · · Journal of Physics. Conference Series
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
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Long wakes from offshore wind turbine clusters can extend tens of kilometers downstream, affecting the wind resource of a large area. Given the ability of mesoscale numerical weather prediction models to capture important atmospheric phenomena and mechanisms relevant to wake evolution, they are often used to simulate wakes behind large wind turbine clusters and their impact over a wider region. Yet, uncertainty persists regarding the accuracy of representing cluster wakes via mesoscale models and their wind turbine parameterizations. Here, we evaluate the accuracy of the Fitch wind farm parameterization in the Weather Research and Forecasting model in capturing cluster-wake effects using two different options to represent turbulent mixing in the planetary boundary layer. To this end, we compare operational data from an offshore wind farm in the North Sea that is fully or partially waked by an upstream array against high-resolution mesoscale simulations. In general, we find that mesoscale models accurately represent the effect of cluster wakes on front-row turbines of a downstream wind farm. However, the same models may not accurately capture cluster-wake effects on an entire downstream wind farm, due to misrepresenting internal-wake effects.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Wind Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2396637
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5000-89043; MainId:89822; UUID:0371e67d-fe02-4389-bfcb-1a3935d11226; MainAdminId:72262
Journal Information:
Journal of Physics. Conference Series, Journal Name: Journal of Physics. Conference Series Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 2767; ISSN 1742-6588
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
cluster wakes
numerical weather prediction
offshore wind energy
wind farm parametrisations