Articles | Volume 7, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-659-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-659-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Mar 2022
Research article |
| 24 Mar 2022
| 24 Mar 2022
Validation of wind resource and energy production simulations for small wind turbines in the United States
Lindsay M. Sheridan
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Caleb Phillips
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
Alice C. Orrell
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Larry K. Berg
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Heidi Tinnesand
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
Raj K. Rai
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Sagi Zisman
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
Dmitry Duplyakin
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA
Julia E. Flaherty
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Related authors
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Jiali Wang, Caroline Draxl, Nicola Bodini, Caleb Phillips, Dmitry Duplyakin, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, Larry K. Berg, Chunyong Jung, and Ethan Young
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
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Three recent wind resource datasets are assessed for their skills in representing annual average wind speeds and seasonal, diurnal, and inter-annual trends in the wind resource to support customers interested in small and midsize wind energy.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Dmitry Duplyakin, Caleb Phillips, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
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Twelve months of onsite wind measurement is standard for correcting model-based long-term wind speed estimates for utility-scale wind farms, however, the time and capital investment involved in gathering onsite measurements must be reconciled with the energy needs and funding opportunities for distributed wind projects. This study aims to answer the question of how low can you go in terms of the observational time period needed to make impactful improvements to long-term wind speed estimates.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, William I. Gustafson Jr., Ye Liu, Brian J. Gaudet, Nicola Bodini, Rob K. Newsom, and Mikhail Pekour
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 741–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, 2024
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In 2020, lidar-mounted buoys owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) were deployed off the California coast in two wind energy lease areas and provided valuable year-long analyses of offshore low-level jet (LLJ) characteristics at heights relevant to wind turbines. In addition to the LLJ climatology, this work provides validation of LLJ representation in atmospheric models that are essential for assessing the potential energy yield of offshore wind farms.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Evgueni I. Kassianov, Jinliang Liu, Rob K. Newsom, Lindsay M. Sheridan, and Alicia M. Mahon
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5667–5699, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, 2023
Short summary
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Our understanding and ability to observe and model air–sea processes has been identified as a principal limitation to our ability to predict future weather. Few observations exist offshore along the coast of California. To improve our understanding of the air–sea transition zone and support the wind energy industry, two buoys with state-of-the-art equipment were deployed for 1 year. In this article, we present details of the post-processing, algorithms, and analyses.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghu Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian J. Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Alicia M. Mahon, William J. Shaw, Rob K. Newsom, Mikhail Pekour, and Zhaoqing Yang
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2059–2084, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, 2022
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Using observations from lidar buoys, five reanalysis and analysis models that support the wind energy community are validated offshore and at rotor-level heights along the California Pacific coast. The models are found to underestimate the observed wind resource. Occasions of large model error occur in conjunction with stable atmospheric conditions, wind speeds associated with peak turbine power production, and mischaracterization of the diurnal wind speed cycle in summer months.
Caleb Phillips, Lindsay M. Sheridan, Patrick Conry, Dimitrios K. Fytanidis, Dmitry Duplyakin, Sagi Zisman, Nicolas Duboc, Matt Nelson, Rao Kotamarthi, Rod Linn, Marc Broersma, Timo Spijkerboer, and Heidi Tinnesand
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1153–1169, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, 2022
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Adoption of distributed wind turbines for energy generation is hindered by challenges associated with siting and accurate estimation of the wind resource. This study evaluates classic and commonly used methods alongside new state-of-the-art models derived from simulations and machine learning approaches using a large dataset from the Netherlands. We find that data-driven methods are most effective at predicting production at real sites and new models reliably outperform classic methods.
Jane Lockshin, Paula Pérez, Slater Podgorny, Michaela Sizemore, Paritosh Das, Jeffrey D. Laurence-Chasen, Paul Crook, and Caleb Phillips
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-147, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-147, 2024
Preprint under review for WES
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This study examines the potential for distributed wind energy across the contiguous United States by leveraging a novel modeling approach that utilizes a high-resolution dataset and analyzes over 150 million parcels. Modeling results reveal substantial opportunities for energy generation using distributed wind technologies. Additionally, findings reveal a substantial increase from prior modeling results in estimated technical and economic potential for distributed wind.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Jiali Wang, Caroline Draxl, Nicola Bodini, Caleb Phillips, Dmitry Duplyakin, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, Larry K. Berg, Chunyong Jung, and Ethan Young
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-115, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
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Three recent wind resource datasets are assessed for their skills in representing annual average wind speeds and seasonal, diurnal, and inter-annual trends in the wind resource to support customers interested in small and midsize wind energy.
Ye Liu, Yun Qian, Larry K. Berg, Zhe Feng, Jianfeng Li, Jingyi Chen, and Zhao Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8165–8181, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8165-2024, 2024
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Deep convection under various large-scale meteorological patterns (LSMPs) shows distinct precipitation features. In southeastern Texas, mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) contribute significantly to precipitation year-round, while isolated deep convection (IDC) is prominent in summer and fall. Self-organizing maps (SOMs) reveal convection can occur without large-scale lifting or moisture convergence. MCSs and IDC events have distinct life cycles influenced by specific LSMPs.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Dmitry Duplyakin, Caleb Phillips, Heidi Tinnesand, Raj K. Rai, Julia E. Flaherty, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2024-37, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for WES
Short summary
Short summary
Twelve months of onsite wind measurement is standard for correcting model-based long-term wind speed estimates for utility-scale wind farms, however, the time and capital investment involved in gathering onsite measurements must be reconciled with the energy needs and funding opportunities for distributed wind projects. This study aims to answer the question of how low can you go in terms of the observational time period needed to make impactful improvements to long-term wind speed estimates.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, William I. Gustafson Jr., Ye Liu, Brian J. Gaudet, Nicola Bodini, Rob K. Newsom, and Mikhail Pekour
Wind Energ. Sci., 9, 741–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-741-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2020, lidar-mounted buoys owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) were deployed off the California coast in two wind energy lease areas and provided valuable year-long analyses of offshore low-level jet (LLJ) characteristics at heights relevant to wind turbines. In addition to the LLJ climatology, this work provides validation of LLJ representation in atmospheric models that are essential for assessing the potential energy yield of offshore wind farms.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Evgueni I. Kassianov, Jinliang Liu, Rob K. Newsom, Lindsay M. Sheridan, and Alicia M. Mahon
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5667–5699, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5667-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our understanding and ability to observe and model air–sea processes has been identified as a principal limitation to our ability to predict future weather. Few observations exist offshore along the coast of California. To improve our understanding of the air–sea transition zone and support the wind energy industry, two buoys with state-of-the-art equipment were deployed for 1 year. In this article, we present details of the post-processing, algorithms, and analyses.
Sue Ellen Haupt, Branko Kosović, Larry K. Berg, Colleen M. Kaul, Matthew Churchfield, Jeffrey Mirocha, Dries Allaerts, Thomas Brummet, Shannon Davis, Amy DeCastro, Susan Dettling, Caroline Draxl, David John Gagne, Patrick Hawbecker, Pankaj Jha, Timothy Juliano, William Lassman, Eliot Quon, Raj K. Rai, Michael Robinson, William Shaw, and Regis Thedin
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 1251–1275, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1251-2023, 2023
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The Mesoscale to Microscale Coupling team, part of the U.S. Department of Energy Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) initiative, has studied various important challenges related to coupling mesoscale models to microscale models. Lessons learned and discerned best practices are described in the context of the cases studied for the purpose of enabling further deployment of wind energy. It also points to code, assessment tools, and data for testing the methods.
Sheng-Lun Tai, Larry K. Berg, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, and Anthony Kirincich
Wind Energ. Sci., 8, 433–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-433-2023, 2023
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Turbulence intensity is critical for wind turbine design and operation as it affects wind power generation efficiency. Turbulence measurements in the marine environment are limited. We use a model to derive turbulence intensity and test how sea surface temperature data may impact the simulated turbulence intensity and atmospheric stability. The model slightly underestimates turbulence, and improved sea surface temperature data reduce the bias. Error with unrealistic mesoscale flow is identified.
William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Mithu Debnath, Georgios Deskos, Caroline Draxl, Virendra P. Ghate, Charlotte B. Hasager, Rao Kotamarthi, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Paytsar Muradyan, William J. Pringle, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2307–2334, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, 2022
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This paper provides a review of prominent scientific challenges to characterizing the offshore wind resource using as examples phenomena that occur in the rapidly developing wind energy areas off the United States. The paper also describes the current state of modeling and observations in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and provides specific recommendations for filling key current knowledge gaps.
Lindsay M. Sheridan, Raghu Krishnamurthy, Gabriel García Medina, Brian J. Gaudet, William I. Gustafson Jr., Alicia M. Mahon, William J. Shaw, Rob K. Newsom, Mikhail Pekour, and Zhaoqing Yang
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2059–2084, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2059-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from lidar buoys, five reanalysis and analysis models that support the wind energy community are validated offshore and at rotor-level heights along the California Pacific coast. The models are found to underestimate the observed wind resource. Occasions of large model error occur in conjunction with stable atmospheric conditions, wind speeds associated with peak turbine power production, and mischaracterization of the diurnal wind speed cycle in summer months.
Alessandro Bianchini, Galih Bangga, Ian Baring-Gould, Alessandro Croce, José Ignacio Cruz, Rick Damiani, Gareth Erfort, Carlos Simao Ferreira, David Infield, Christian Navid Nayeri, George Pechlivanoglou, Mark Runacres, Gerard Schepers, Brent Summerville, David Wood, and Alice Orrell
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2003–2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2003-2022, 2022
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The paper is part of the Grand Challenges Papers for Wind Energy. It provides a status of small wind turbine technology in terms of technical maturity, diffusion, and cost. Then, five grand challenges that are thought to be key to fostering the development of the technology are proposed. To tackle these challenges, a series of unknowns and gaps are first identified and discussed. Improvement areas are highlighted, within which 10 key enabling actions are finally proposed to the wind community.
Caleb Phillips, Lindsay M. Sheridan, Patrick Conry, Dimitrios K. Fytanidis, Dmitry Duplyakin, Sagi Zisman, Nicolas Duboc, Matt Nelson, Rao Kotamarthi, Rod Linn, Marc Broersma, Timo Spijkerboer, and Heidi Tinnesand
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1153–1169, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, 2022
Short summary
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Adoption of distributed wind turbines for energy generation is hindered by challenges associated with siting and accurate estimation of the wind resource. This study evaluates classic and commonly used methods alongside new state-of-the-art models derived from simulations and machine learning approaches using a large dataset from the Netherlands. We find that data-driven methods are most effective at predicting production at real sites and new models reliably outperform classic methods.
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. Neale, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Stephen A. Klein, Mark D. Zelinka, Yuying Zhang, Yun Qian, Jin-Ho Yoon, Christopher R. Jones, Meng Huang, Sheng-Lun Tai, Balwinder Singh, Peter A. Bogenschutz, Xue Zheng, Wuyin Lin, Johannes Quaas, Hélène Chepfer, Michael A. Brunke, Xubin Zeng, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Samson Hagos, Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Xiaohong Liu, Michael S. Pritchard, Hui Wan, Jingyu Wang, Qi Tang, Peter M. Caldwell, Jiwen Fan, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Mark A. Taylor, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Shaocheng Xie, Philip J. Rasch, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2881–2916, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, 2022
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An alternative set of parameters for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1 has been developed based on a tuning strategy that focuses on clouds. When clouds in every regime are improved, other aspects of the model are also improved, even though they are not the direct targets for calibration. The recalibrated model shows a lower sensitivity to anthropogenic aerosols and surface warming, suggesting potential improvements to the simulated climate in the past and future.
Ye Liu, Yun Qian, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 37–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-37-2022, 2022
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Uncertainties in initial conditions (ICs) decrease the accuracy of wind speed forecasts. We find that IC uncertainties can alter wind speed by modulating the weather system. IC uncertainties in local thermal gradient and large-scale circulation jointly contribute to wind speed forecast uncertainties. Wind forecast accuracy in the Columbia River Basin is confined by initial uncertainties in a few specific regions, providing useful information for more intense measurement and modeling studies.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob K. Newsom, Larry K. Berg, Heng Xiao, Po-Lun Ma, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4403–4424, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021, 2021
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Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a critical parameter in atmospheric models. Continuous PBL height measurements from remote sensing measurements are important to understand various boundary layer mechanisms, especially during daytime and evening transition periods. Due to several limitations in existing methodologies to detect PBL height from a Doppler lidar, in this study, a machine learning (ML) approach is tested. The ML model is observed to improve the accuracy by over 50 %.
Caroline Draxl, Rochelle P. Worsnop, Geng Xia, Yelena Pichugina, Duli Chand, Julie K. Lundquist, Justin Sharp, Garrett Wedam, James M. Wilczak, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 45–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, 2021
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Mountain waves can create oscillations in low-level wind speeds and subsequently in the power output of wind plants. We document such oscillations by analyzing sodar and lidar observations, nacelle wind speeds, power observations, and Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations. This research describes how mountain waves form in the Columbia River basin and affect wind energy production and their impact on operational forecasting, wind plant layout, and integration of power into the grid.
Erin A. Riley, Jessica M. Kleiss, Laura D. Riihimaki, Charles N. Long, Larry K. Berg, and Evgueni Kassianov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2099–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2099-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2099-2020, 2020
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Discrepancies in hourly shallow cumuli cover estimates can be substantial. Instrument detection differences contribute to long-term bias in shallow cumuli cover estimates, whereas narrow field-of-view configurations impact measurement uncertainty as averaging time decreases. A new tool is introduced to visually assess both impacts on sub-hourly cloud cover estimates. Accurate shallow cumuli cover estimation is needed for model–observation comparisons and studying cloud-surface interactions.
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
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During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Nicola Bodini, Julie K. Lundquist, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Mikhail Pekour, Larry K. Berg, and Aditya Choukulkar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4367–4382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4367-2019, 2019
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To improve the parameterization of the turbulence dissipation rate (ε) in numerical weather prediction models, we have assessed its temporal and spatial variability at various scales in the Columbia River Gorge during the WFIP2 field experiment. The turbulence dissipation rate shows large spatial variability, even at the microscale, with larger values in sites located downwind of complex orographic structures or in wind farm wakes. Distinct diurnal and seasonal cycles in ε have also been found.
Mike Optis, Jordan Perr-Sauer, Caleb Philips, Anna E. Craig, Joseph C. Y. Lee, Travis Kemper, Shuangwen Sheng, Eric Simley, Lindy Williams, Monte Lunacek, John Meissner, and M. Jason Fields
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2019-12, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2019-12, 2019
Preprint withdrawn
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As global wind capacity continues to grow, the need for accurate operational analyses of a rapidly growing fleet of wind power plants has increased in proportion. To address this need, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has released OpenOA, an open-source codebase for operational analysis of wind farms. It is envisioned that OpenOA will evolve into a widely used codebase supported by a large group of global wind energy experts. This paper provides a summary of OpenOA.
Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Matthew J. Churchfield, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, Raj K. Rai, Yan Feng, Branko Kosović, Sue Ellen Haupt, Barbara Brown, Brandon L. Ennis, Caroline Draxl, Javier Sanz Rodrigo, William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Patrick J. Moriarty, Rodman R. Linn, Veerabhadra R. Kotamarthi, Ramesh Balakrishnan, Joel W. Cline, Michael C. Robinson, and Shreyas Ananthan
Wind Energ. Sci., 3, 589–613, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-589-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-589-2018, 2018
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This paper validates the use of idealized large-eddy simulations with periodic lateral boundary conditions to provide boundary-layer flow quantities of interest for wind energy applications. Sensitivities to model formulation, forcing parameter values, and grid configurations were also examined, both to ascertain the robustness of the technique and to characterize inherent uncertainties, as required for the evaluation of more general wind plant flow simulation approaches under development.
Louis Marelle, Jean-Christophe Raut, Kathy S. Law, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Richard C. Easter, Manish Shrivastava, and Jennie L. Thomas
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3661–3677, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3661-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3661-2017, 2017
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We develop the WRF-Chem 3.5.1 model to improve simulations of aerosols and ozone in the Arctic. Both species are important air pollutants and climate forcers, but models often struggle to reproduce observations in the Arctic. Our developments concern pollutant emissions, mixing, chemistry, and removal, including processes related to snow and sea ice. The effect of these changes are quantitatively validated against observations, showing significant improvements compared to the original model.
Jean-Christophe Raut, Louis Marelle, Jerome D. Fast, Jennie L. Thomas, Bernadett Weinzierl, Katharine S. Law, Larry K. Berg, Anke Roiger, Richard C. Easter, Katharina Heimerl, Tatsuo Onishi, Julien Delanoë, and Hans Schlager
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10969–10995, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10969-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10969-2017, 2017
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We study the cross-polar transport of plumes from Siberian fires to the Arctic in summer, both in terms of transport pathways and efficiency of deposition processes. Those plumes containing soot may originate from anthropogenic and biomass burning sources in mid-latitude regions and may impact the Arctic climate by depositing on snow and ice surfaces. We evaluate the role of the respective source contributions, investigate the transport of plumes and treat pathway-dependent removal of particles.
Ivan Ortega, Sean Coburn, Larry K. Berg, Kathy Lantz, Joseph Michalsky, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, and Rainer Volkamer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3893–3910, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3893-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3893-2016, 2016
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We present an inherently calibrated retrieval to measure aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the aerosol phase function parameter, g, based on measurements of azimuth distributions of the Raman scattering probability (RSP), the near-absolute rotational Raman scattering (RRS) intensity by the University of Colorado two-dimensional (2-D) MAX-DOAS. The retrievals are maximally sensitive at low AOD and do not require absolute radiance calibration. We compare results with data from independent sensors.
Chun Zhao, Maoyi Huang, Jerome D. Fast, Larry K. Berg, Yun Qian, Alex Guenther, Dasa Gu, Manish Shrivastava, Ying Liu, Stacy Walters, Gabriele Pfister, Jiming Jin, John E. Shilling, and Carsten Warneke
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1959–1976, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1959-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1959-2016, 2016
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In this study, the latest version of MEGAN is coupled within CLM4 in WRF-Chem. In this implementation, MEGAN shares a consistent vegetation map with CLM4. This improved modeling framework is used to investigate the impact of two land surface schemes on BVOCs and examine the sensitivity of BVOCs to vegetation distributions in California. This study indicates that more effort is needed to obtain the most appropriate and accurate land cover data sets for climate and air quality models.
L. K. Berg, M. Shrivastava, R. C. Easter, J. D. Fast, E. G. Chapman, Y. Liu, and R. A. Ferrare
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 409–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-409-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-409-2015, 2015
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This work presents a new methodology for representing regional-scale impacts of cloud processing on both aerosol and trace gases in sub-grid-scale convective clouds. Using the new methodology, we can better simulate the aerosol lifecycle over large areas. The results presented in this work highlight the potential change in column-integrated amounts of black carbon, organic aerosol, and sulfate aerosol, which were found to range from -50% for black carbon to +40% for sulfate.
D. Müller, C. A. Hostetler, R. A. Ferrare, S. P. Burton, E. Chemyakin, A. Kolgotin, J. W. Hair, A. L. Cook, D. B. Harper, R. R. Rogers, R. W. Hare, C. S. Cleckner, M. D. Obland, J. Tomlinson, L. K. Berg, and B. Schmid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3487–3496, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3487-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3487-2014, 2014
E. Kassianov, J. Barnard, M. Pekour, L. K. Berg, J. Shilling, C. Flynn, F. Mei, and A. Jefferson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3247–3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3247-2014, 2014
A. J. Scarino, M. D. Obland, J. D. Fast, S. P. Burton, R. A. Ferrare, C. A. Hostetler, L. K. Berg, B. Lefer, C. Haman, J. W. Hair, R. R. Rogers, C. Butler, A. L. Cook, and D. B. Harper
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5547–5560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5547-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5547-2014, 2014
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Wake properties and power output of very large wind farms for different meteorological conditions and turbine spacings: a large-eddy simulation case study for the German Bight
Four-dimensional wind field generation for the aeroelastic simulation of wind turbines with lidars
Can reanalysis products outperform mesoscale numerical weather prediction models in modeling the wind resource in simple terrain?
The five main influencing factors for lidar errors in complex terrain
Meso- to microscale modeling of atmospheric stability effects on wind turbine wake behavior in complex terrain
Validation of a coupled atmospheric–aeroelastic model system for wind turbine power and load calculations
Optimal closed-loop wake steering – Part 2: Diurnal cycle atmospheric boundary layer conditions
Development of a curled wake of a yawed wind turbine under turbulent and sheared inflow
Application of the Townsend–George theory for free shear flows to single and double wind turbine wakes – a wind tunnel study
On the measurement of stability parameter over complex mountainous terrain
Field measurements of wake meandering at a utility-scale wind turbine with nacelle-mounted Doppler lidars
The 3 km Norwegian reanalysis (NORA3) – a validation of offshore wind resources in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea
On turbulence models and lidar measurements for wind turbine control
Seasonal effects in the long-term correction of short-term wind measurements using reanalysis data
On the effects of inter-farm interactions at the offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus
Satellite-based estimation of roughness lengths and displacement heights for wind resource modelling
The smoother the better? A comparison of six post-processing methods to improve short-term offshore wind power forecasts in the Baltic Sea
Statistical impact of wind-speed ramp events on turbines, via observations and coupled fluid-dynamic and aeroelastic simulations
Probabilistic estimation of the Dynamic Wake Meandering model parameters using SpinnerLidar-derived wake characteristics
Recovery processes in a large offshore wind farm
Extreme wind shear events in US offshore wind energy areas and the role of induced stratification
WRF-simulated low-level jets over Iowa: characterization and sensitivity studies
Correlations of power output fluctuations in an offshore wind farm using high-resolution SCADA data
New methods to improve the vertical extrapolation of near-surface offshore wind speeds
Wind turbine load validation in wakes using wind field reconstruction techniques and nacelle lidar wind retrievals
A pressure-driven atmospheric boundary layer model satisfying Rossby and Reynolds number similarity
Design and analysis of a wake model for spatially heterogeneous flow
Evaluation of tilt control for wind-turbine arrays in the atmospheric boundary layer
Evaluation of idealized large-eddy simulations performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting model using turbulence measurements from a 250 m meteorological mast
Wind turbines in atmospheric flow: fluid–structure interaction simulations with hybrid turbulence modeling
Offshore wind farm global blockage measured with scanning lidar
Understanding and mitigating the impact of data gaps on offshore wind resource estimates
Investigating the loads and performance of a model horizontal axis wind turbine under reproducible IEC extreme operational conditions
Validation of the dynamic wake meandering model with respect to loads and power production
Method for airborne measurement of the spatial wind speed distribution above complex terrain
Axial induction controller field test at Sedini wind farm
Wake redirection at higher axial induction
An overview of wind-energy-production prediction bias, losses, and uncertainties
Utilizing physics-based input features within a machine learning model to predict wind speed forecasting error
Set-point optimization in wind farms to mitigate effects of flow blockage induced by atmospheric gravity waves
Field experiment for open-loop yaw-based wake steering at a commercial onshore wind farm in Italy
Computational analysis of high-lift-generating airfoils for diffuser-augmented wind turbines
Caleb Phillips, Lindsay M. Sheridan, Patrick Conry, Dimitrios K. Fytanidis, Dmitry Duplyakin, Sagi Zisman, Nicolas Duboc, Matt Nelson, Rao Kotamarthi, Rod Linn, Marc Broersma, Timo Spijkerboer, and Heidi Tinnesand
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1153–1169, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1153-2022, 2022
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Adoption of distributed wind turbines for energy generation is hindered by challenges associated with siting and accurate estimation of the wind resource. This study evaluates classic and commonly used methods alongside new state-of-the-art models derived from simulations and machine learning approaches using a large dataset from the Netherlands. We find that data-driven methods are most effective at predicting production at real sites and new models reliably outperform classic methods.
Jana Fischereit, Kurt Schaldemose Hansen, Xiaoli Guo Larsén, Maarten Paul van der Laan, Pierre-Elouan Réthoré, and Juan Pablo Murcia Leon
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1069–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1069-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1069-2022, 2022
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Wind turbines extract kinetic energy from the flow to create electricity. This induces a wake of reduced wind speed downstream of a turbine and consequently downstream of a wind farm. Different types of numerical models have been developed to calculate this effect. In this study, we compared models of different complexity, together with measurements over two wind farms. We found that higher-fidelity models perform better and the considered rapid models cannot fully capture the wake effect.
Thomas Haas, Jochem De Schutter, Moritz Diehl, and Johan Meyers
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 1093–1135, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1093-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-1093-2022, 2022
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In this work, we study parks of large-scale airborne wind energy systems using a virtual flight simulator. The virtual flight simulator combines numerical techniques from flow simulation and kite control. Using advanced control algorithms, the systems can operate efficiently in the park despite turbulent flow conditions. For the three configurations considered in the study, we observe significant wake effects, reducing the power yield of the parks.
Brandon Arthur Lobo, Alois Peter Schaffarczyk, and Michael Breuer
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 967–990, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-967-2022, 2022
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This research involves studying the flow around the section of a wind turbine blade, albeit at a lower Reynolds number or flow speed, using wall-resolved large-eddy simulations, a form of computer simulation that resolves the important scales of the flow. Among the many interesting results, it is shown that the energy entering the boundary layer around the airfoil or section of the blade is proportional to the square of the incoming flow turbulence intensity.
Alessandro Sebastiani, Alfredo Peña, Niels Troldborg, and Alexander Meyer Forsting
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 875–886, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-875-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-875-2022, 2022
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The power performance of a wind turbine is often tested with the turbine standing in a row of several wind turbines, as it is assumed that the performance is not affected by the neighbouring turbines. We test this assumption with both simulations and measurements, and we show that the power performance can be either enhanced or lowered by the neighbouring wind turbines. Consequently, we also show how power performance testing might be biased when performed on a row of several wind turbines.
Maria Krutova, Mostafa Bakhoday-Paskyabi, Joachim Reuder, and Finn Gunnar Nielsen
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 849–873, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-849-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-849-2022, 2022
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We described a new automated method to separate the wind turbine wake from the undisturbed flow. The method relies on the wind speed distribution in the measured wind field to select one specific threshold value and split the measurements into wake and background points. The purpose of the method is to reduce the amount of data required – the proposed algorithm does not need precise information on the wind speed or direction and can run on the image instead of the measured data.
Wei Fu, Alfredo Peña, and Jakob Mann
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 831–848, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-831-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-831-2022, 2022
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Measuring the variability of the wind is essential to operate the wind turbines safely. Lidars of different configurations have been placed on the turbines’ nacelle to measure the inflow remotely. This work found that the multiple-beam lidar is the only one out of the three employed nacelle lidars that can give detailed information about the inflow variability. The other two commercial lidars, which have two and four beams, respectively, measure only the fluctuation in the along-wind direction.
Mads Baungaard, Maarten Paul van der Laan, and Mark Kelly
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 783–800, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-783-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-783-2022, 2022
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Wind turbine wakes are dependent on the atmospheric conditions, and it is therefore important to be able to simulate in various different atmospheric conditions. This paper concerns the specific case of an unstable atmospheric surface layer, which is the lower part of the typical daytime atmospheric boundary layer. A simple flow model is suggested and tested for a range of single-wake scenarios, and it shows promising results for velocity deficit predictions.
Oliver Maas and Siegfried Raasch
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 715–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-715-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-715-2022, 2022
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In the future there will be very large wind farm clusters in the German Bight. This study investigates how the wind field is affected by these very large wind farms and how much energy can be extracted by the wind turbines. Very large wind farms do not only reduce the wind speed but can also cause a change in wind direction or temperature. The extractable energy per wind turbine is much smaller for large wind farms than for small wind farms due to the reduced wind speed inside the wind farms.
Yiyin Chen, Feng Guo, David Schlipf, and Po Wen Cheng
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 539–558, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-539-2022, 2022
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Lidar-assisted control of wind turbines requires a wind field generator capable of simulating wind evolution. Out of this need, we extend the Veers method for 3D wind field generation to 4D and propose a two-step Cholesky decomposition approach. Based on this, we develop a 4D wind field generator – evoTurb – coupled with TurbSim and Mann turbulence generator. We further investigate the impacts of the spatial discretization in 4D wind fields on lidar simulations to provide practical suggestions.
Vincent Pronk, Nicola Bodini, Mike Optis, Julie K. Lundquist, Patrick Moriarty, Caroline Draxl, Avi Purkayastha, and Ethan Young
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 487–504, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-487-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-487-2022, 2022
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In this paper, we have assessed to which extent mesoscale numerical weather prediction models are more accurate than state-of-the-art reanalysis products in characterizing the wind resource at heights of interest for wind energy. The conclusions of our work will be of primary importance to the wind industry for recommending the best data sources for wind resource modeling.
Tobias Klaas-Witt and Stefan Emeis
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 413–431, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-413-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-413-2022, 2022
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Light detection and ranging (lidar) has become a valuable technology to assess the wind resource at hub height of modern wind turbines. However, because of their measurement principle, common lidars suffer from errors at orographically complex, i.e. hilly or mountainous, sites. This study analyses the impact of the five main influencing factors in a non-dimensional, model-based parameter study.
Adam S. Wise, James M. T. Neher, Robert S. Arthur, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Julie K. Lundquist, and Fotini K. Chow
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 367–386, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-367-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-367-2022, 2022
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Wind turbine wake behavior in hilly terrain depends on various atmospheric conditions. We modeled a wind turbine located on top of a ridge in Portugal during typical nighttime and daytime atmospheric conditions and validated these model results with observational data. During nighttime conditions, the wake deflected downwards following the terrain. During daytime conditions, the wake deflected upwards. These results can provide insight into wind turbine siting and operation in hilly regions.
Sonja Krüger, Gerald Steinfeld, Martin Kraft, and Laura J. Lukassen
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 323–344, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-323-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-323-2022, 2022
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Detailed numerical simulations of turbines in atmospheric conditions are challenging with regard to their computational demand. We coupled an atmospheric flow model and a turbine model in order to deliver extensive details about the flow and the turbine response within reasonable computational time. A comparison to measurement data was performed and showed a very good agreement. The efficiency of the tool enables applications such as load calculation in wind farms or during low-level-jet events.
Michael F. Howland, Aditya S. Ghate, Jesús Bas Quesada, Juan José Pena Martínez, Wei Zhong, Felipe Palou Larrañaga, Sanjiva K. Lele, and John O. Dabiri
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 345–365, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-345-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-345-2022, 2022
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Wake steering control, in which turbines are intentionally misaligned with the incident wind, has demonstrated potential to increase wind farm energy. We investigate wake steering control methods in simulations of a wind farm operating in the terrestrial diurnal cycle. We develop a statistical wind direction forecast to improve wake steering in flows with time-varying states. Closed-loop wake steering control increases wind farm energy production, compared to baseline and open-loop control.
Paul Hulsman, Martin Wosnik, Vlaho Petrović, Michael Hölling, and Martin Kühn
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 237–257, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-237-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-237-2022, 2022
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Due to the possibility of mapping the wake fast at multiple locations with the WindScanner, a thorough understanding of the development of the wake is acquired at different inflow conditions and operational conditions. The lidar velocity data and the energy dissipation rate compared favourably with hot-wire data from previous experiments, lending credibility to the measurement technique and methodology used here. This will aid the process to further improve existing wake models.
Ingrid Neunaber, Joachim Peinke, and Martin Obligado
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 201–219, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-201-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-201-2022, 2022
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Wind turbines are often clustered within wind farms. A consequence is that some wind turbines may be exposed to the wakes of other turbines, which reduces their lifetime due to the wake turbulence. Knowledge of the wake is thus important, and we carried out wind tunnel experiments to investigate the wakes. We show how models that describe wakes of bluff bodies can help to improve the understanding of wind turbine wakes and wind turbine wake models, particularly by including a virtual origin.
Elena Cantero, Javier Sanz, Fernando Borbón, Daniel Paredes, and Almudena García
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 221–235, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-221-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-221-2022, 2022
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The impact of atmospheric stability on wind energy is widely demonstrated, so we have to know how to characterise it.
This work based on a meteorological mast located in a complex terrain compares and evaluates different instrument set-ups and methodologies for stability characterisation. The methods are examined considering their theoretical background, implementation complexity, instrumentation requirements and practical use in connection with wind energy applications.
Peter Brugger, Corey Markfort, and Fernando Porté-Agel
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 185–199, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-185-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-185-2022, 2022
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Wind turbines create a wake of reduced wind speeds downstream of the rotor. The wake does not necessarily have a straight, pencil-like shape but can meander similar to a smoke plume. We investigated this wake meandering and observed that the downstream transport velocity is slower than the wind speed contrary to previous assumptions and that the evolution of the atmospheric turbulence over time impacts wake meandering on distances typical for the turbine spacing in wind farms.
Ida Marie Solbrekke, Asgeir Sorteberg, and Hilde Haakenstad
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1501–1519, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1501-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1501-2021, 2021
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We validate new high-resolution data set (NORA3) for offshore wind power purposes for the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. The aim of the validation is to ensure that NORA3 can act as a wind resource data set in the planning phase for future offshore wind power installations in the area of concern. The general conclusion of the validation is that NORA3 is well suited for wind power estimates but gives slightly conservative estimates of the offshore wind metrics.
Liang Dong, Wai Hou Lio, and Eric Simley
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1491–1500, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1491-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1491-2021, 2021
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This paper suggests that the impacts of different turbulence models should be considered as uncertainties while evaluating the benefits of lidar-assisted control (LAC) in wind turbine design. The value creation of LAC, evaluated using the Kaimal turbulence model, will be diminished if the Mann turbulence model is used instead. In particular, the difference in coherence is more significant for larger rotors.
Alexander Basse, Doron Callies, Anselm Grötzner, and Lukas Pauscher
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1473–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1473-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1473-2021, 2021
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This study investigates systematic, seasonal biases in the long-term correction of short-term wind measurements (< 1 year). Two popular measure–correlate–predict (MCP) methods yield remarkably different results. Six reanalysis data sets serve as long-term data. Besides experimental results, theoretical findings are presented which link the mechanics of the methods and the properties of the reanalysis data sets to the observations. Finally, recommendations for wind park planners are derived.
Vasilis Pettas, Matthias Kretschmer, Andrew Clifton, and Po Wen Cheng
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1455–1472, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1455-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1455-2021, 2021
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This study aims to quantify the effect of inter-farm interactions based on long-term measurement data from the Alpha Ventus (AV) wind farm and the nearby FINO1 platform. AV was initially the only operating farm in the area, but in subsequent years several farms were built around it. This setup allows us to quantify the farm wake effects on the microclimate of AV and also on turbine loads and operational characteristics depending on the distance and size of the neighboring farms.
Rogier Floors, Merete Badger, Ib Troen, Kenneth Grogan, and Finn-Hendrik Permien
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1379–1400, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1379-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1379-2021, 2021
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Wind turbines are frequently placed in forests. We investigate the potential of using satellites to characterize the land surface for wind flow modelling. Maps of forest properties are generated from satellite data and converted to flow modelling maps. Validation is carried out at 10 sites. Using the novel satellite-based maps leads to lower errors of the power density than land cover databases, which demonstrates the value of using satellite-based land cover maps for flow modelling.
Christoffer Hallgren, Stefan Ivanell, Heiner Körnich, Ville Vakkari, and Erik Sahlée
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1205–1226, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1205-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1205-2021, 2021
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As wind power becomes more popular, there is a growing demand for accurate power production forecasts. In this paper we investigated different methods to improve wind power forecasts for an offshore location in the Baltic Sea, using both simple and more advanced techniques. The performance of the methods is evaluated for different weather conditions. Smoothing the forecast was found to be the best method in general, but we recommend selecting which method to use based on the forecasted weather.
Mark Kelly, Søren Juhl Andersen, and Ásta Hannesdóttir
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1227–1245, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1227-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1227-2021, 2021
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Via 11 years of measurements, we made a representative ensemble of wind ramps in terms of acceleration, mean speed, and shear. Constrained turbulence and large-eddy simulations were coupled to an aeroelastic model for each ensemble member. Ramp acceleration was found to dominate the maxima of thrust-associated loads, with a ramp-induced increase of 45 %–50 % plus ~ 3 % per 0.1 m/s2 of bulk ramp acceleration magnitude. The LES indicates that the ramps (and such loads) persist through the farm.
Davide Conti, Nikolay Dimitrov, Alfredo Peña, and Thomas Herges
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1117–1142, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1117-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1117-2021, 2021
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We carry out a probabilistic calibration of the Dynamic Wake Meandering (DWM) model using high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution nacelle-based lidar measurements of the wake flow field. The experimental data were collected from the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility in Texas. The analysis includes the velocity deficit, wake-added turbulence, and wake meandering features under various inflow wind and atmospheric-stability conditions.
Tanvi Gupta and Somnath Baidya Roy
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1089–1106, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1089-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1089-2021, 2021
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Wind turbines extract momentum from atmospheric flow and convert that to electricity. This study explores recovery processes in wind farms that replenish the momentum so that wind farms can continue to function. Experiments with a numerical model show that momentum transport by turbulent eddies from above the wind turbines is the major contributor to recovery except for strong wind conditions and low wind turbine density, where horizontal advection can also play a major role.
Mithu Debnath, Paula Doubrawa, Mike Optis, Patrick Hawbecker, and Nicola Bodini
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1043–1059, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1043-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1043-2021, 2021
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As the offshore wind industry emerges on the US East Coast, a comprehensive understanding of the wind resource – particularly extreme events – is vital to the industry's success. We leverage a year of data of two floating lidars to quantify and characterize the frequent occurrence of high-wind-shear and low-level-jet events, both of which will have a considerable impact on turbine operation. We find that almost 100 independent long events occur throughout the year.
Jeanie A. Aird, Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Tristan J. Shepherd, and Sara C. Pryor
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 1015–1030, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1015-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-1015-2021, 2021
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Low-level jets (LLJs) are pronounced maxima in wind speed profiles affecting wind turbine performance and longevity. We present a climatology of LLJs over Iowa using output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and determine the rotor plane conditions when they occur. LLJ characteristics are highly sensitive to the identification criteria applied, and different (unique) LLJs are extracted with each criterion. LLJ characteristics also vary with different model output resolution.
Janna Kristina Seifert, Martin Kraft, Martin Kühn, and Laura J. Lukassen
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 997–1014, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-997-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-997-2021, 2021
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Fluctuations in the power output of wind turbines are one of the major challenges in the integration and utilisation of wind energy. By analysing the power output fluctuations of wind turbine pairs in an offshore wind farm, we show that their correlation depends on their location within the wind farm and their inflow. The main outcome is that these correlation dependencies can be characterised by statistics of the power output of the wind turbines and sorted by a clustering algorithm.
Mike Optis, Nicola Bodini, Mithu Debnath, and Paula Doubrawa
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 935–948, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-935-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-935-2021, 2021
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Offshore wind turbines are huge, with rotor blades soon to extend up to nearly 300 m. Accurate modeling of winds across these heights is crucial for accurate estimates of energy production. However, we lack sufficient observations at these heights but have plenty of near-surface observations. Here we show that a basic machine-learning model can provide very accurate estimates of winds in this area, and much better than conventional techniques.
Davide Conti, Vasilis Pettas, Nikolay Dimitrov, and Alfredo Peña
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 841–866, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-841-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-841-2021, 2021
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We define two lidar-based procedures for improving the accuracy of wind turbine load assessment under wake conditions. The first approach incorporates lidar observations directly into turbulence fields serving as inputs for aeroelastic simulations; the second approach imposes lidar-fitted wake deficit time series on the turbulence fields. The uncertainty in the lidar-based power and load predictions is quantified for a variety of scanning configurations and atmosphere turbulence conditions.
Maarten Paul van der Laan, Mark Kelly, and Mads Baungaard
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 777–790, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-777-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-777-2021, 2021
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Wind farms operate in the atmospheric boundary layer, and their performance is strongly dependent on the atmospheric conditions. We propose a simple model of the atmospheric boundary layer that can be used as an inflow model for wind farm simulations for isolating a number of atmospheric effects – namely, the change in wind direction with height and atmospheric boundary layer depth. In addition, the simple model is shown to be consistent with two similarity theories.
Alayna Farrell, Jennifer King, Caroline Draxl, Rafael Mudafort, Nicholas Hamilton, Christopher J. Bay, Paul Fleming, and Eric Simley
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 737–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-737-2021, 2021
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Most current wind turbine wake models struggle to accurately simulate spatially variant wind conditions at a low computational cost. In this paper, we present an adaptation of NREL's FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State (FLORIS) wake model, which calculates wake losses in a heterogeneous flow field using local weather measurement inputs. Two validation studies are presented where the adapted model consistently outperforms previous versions of FLORIS that simulated uniform flow only.
Carlo Cossu
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 663–675, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-663-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-663-2021, 2021
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We deal with wake redirection, which is a promising approach designed to mitigate turbine–wake interactions which have a negative impact on the performance and lifetime of wind farms. We show that substantial power gains can be obtained by tilting the rotors of spanwise-periodic wind-turbine arrays in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Optimal relative rotor sizes and spanwise spacings exist, which maximize the global power extracted from the wind.
Alfredo Peña, Branko Kosović, and Jeffrey D. Mirocha
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 645–661, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-645-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-645-2021, 2021
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We investigate the ability of a community-open weather model to simulate the turbulent atmosphere by comparison with measurements from a 250 m mast at a flat site in Denmark. We found that within three main atmospheric stability regimes, idealized simulations reproduce closely the characteristics of the observations with regards to the mean wind, direction, turbulent fluxes, and turbulence spectra. Our work provides foundation for the use of the weather model in multiscale real-time simulations.
Christian Grinderslev, Niels Nørmark Sørensen, Sergio González Horcas, Niels Troldborg, and Frederik Zahle
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 627–643, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-627-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-627-2021, 2021
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This study investigates aero-elasticity of wind turbines present in the turbulent and chaotic wind flow of the lower atmosphere, using fluid–structure interaction simulations. This method combines structural response computations with high-fidelity modeling of the turbulent wind flow, using a novel turbulence model which combines the capabilities of large-eddy simulations for atmospheric flows with improved delayed detached eddy simulations for the separated flow near the rotor.
Jörge Schneemann, Frauke Theuer, Andreas Rott, Martin Dörenkämper, and Martin Kühn
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 521–538, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-521-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-521-2021, 2021
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A wind farm can reduce the wind speed in front of it just by its presence and thus also slightly impact the available power. In our study we investigate this so-called global-blockage effect, measuring the inflow of a large offshore wind farm with a laser-based remote sensing method up to several kilometres in front of the farm. Our results show global blockage under a certain atmospheric condition and operational state of the wind farm; during other conditions it is not visible in our data.
Julia Gottschall and Martin Dörenkämper
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 505–520, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-505-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-505-2021, 2021
Kamran Shirzadeh, Horia Hangan, Curran Crawford, and Pooyan Hashemi Tari
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 477–489, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-477-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-477-2021, 2021
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Wind energy systems work coherently in atmospheric flows which are gusty. This causes highly variable power productions and high fatigue loads on the system, which together hold back further growth of the wind energy market. This study demonstrates an alternative experimental procedure to investigate some extreme wind condition effects on wind turbines based on the IEC standard. This experiment can be improved upon and used to develop new control concepts, mitigating the effect of gusts.
Inga Reinwardt, Levin Schilling, Dirk Steudel, Nikolay Dimitrov, Peter Dalhoff, and Michael Breuer
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 441–460, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-441-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-441-2021, 2021
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This analysis validates the DWM model based on loads and power production measured at an onshore wind farm. Special focus is given to the performance of a version of the DWM model that was previously recalibrated with a lidar system at the site. The results of the recalibrated wake model agree very well with the measurements. Furthermore, lidar measurements of the wind speed deficit and the wake meandering are incorporated in the DWM model definition in order to decrease the uncertainties.
Christian Ingenhorst, Georg Jacobs, Laura Stößel, Ralf Schelenz, and Björn Juretzki
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 427–440, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-427-2021, 2021
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Wind farm sites in complex terrain are subject to local wind phenomena, which are difficult to quantify but have a huge impact on a wind turbine's annual energy production. Therefore, a wind sensor was applied on an unmanned aerial vehicle and validated against stationary wind sensors with good agreement. A measurement over complex terrain showed local deviations from the mean wind speed of approx. ± 30 %, indicating the importance of an extensive site evaluation to reduce investment risk.
Ervin Bossanyi and Renzo Ruisi
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 389–408, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-389-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-389-2021, 2021
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This paper describes the design and field testing of a controller for reducing wake interactions on a wind farm. Reducing the power of some turbines weakens their wakes, allowing other turbines to produce more power so that the total wind farm power may increase. There have been doubts that this is feasible, but these field tests on a full-scale wind farm indicate that this goal has been achieved, also providing convincing validation of the model used for designing the controller.
Carlo Cossu
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 377–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-377-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-377-2021, 2021
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In this study wake redirection and axial-induction control are combined to mitigate turbine–wake interactions, which have a negative impact on the performance and lifetime of wind farms. The results confirm that substantial power gains are obtained when overinduction is combined with tilt control. More importantly, the approach is extended to the case of yaw control, showing that large power gain enhancements are obtained by means of static overinductive yaw control.
Joseph C. Y. Lee and M. Jason Fields
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 311–365, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-311-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-311-2021, 2021
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This review paper evaluates the energy prediction bias in the wind resource assessment process, and the overprediction bias is decreasing over time. We examine the estimated and observed losses and uncertainties in energy production from the literature, according to the proposed framework in the International Electrotechnical Commission 61400-15 standard. The considerable uncertainties call for further improvements in the prediction methodologies and more observations for validation.
Daniel Vassallo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Harindra J. S. Fernando
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 295–309, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-295-2021, 2021
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Machine learning is quickly becoming a commonly used technique for wind speed and power forecasting and is especially useful when combined with other forecasting techniques. This study utilizes a popular machine learning algorithm, random forest, in an attempt to predict the forecasting error of a statistical forecasting model. Various atmospheric characteristics are used as random forest inputs in an effort to discern the most useful atmospheric information for this purpose.
Luca Lanzilao and Johan Meyers
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 247–271, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-247-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-247-2021, 2021
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This research paper investigates the potential of thrust set-point optimization in large wind farms for mitigating gravity-wave-induced blockage effects for the first time, with the aim of increasing the wind-farm energy extraction. The optimization tool is applied to almost 2000 different atmospheric states. Overall, power gains above 4 % are observed for 77 % of the cases.
Bart M. Doekemeijer, Stefan Kern, Sivateja Maturu, Stoyan Kanev, Bastian Salbert, Johannes Schreiber, Filippo Campagnolo, Carlo L. Bottasso, Simone Schuler, Friedrich Wilts, Thomas Neumann, Giancarlo Potenza, Fabio Calabretta, Federico Fioretti, and Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 159–176, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-159-2021, 2021
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This article presents the results of a field experiment investigating wake steering on an onshore wind farm. The measurements show that wake steering leads to increases in power production of up to 35 % for two-turbine interactions and up to 16 % for three-turbine interactions. However, losses in power production are seen for various regions of wind directions. The results suggest that further research is necessary before wake steering will consistently lead to energy gains in wind farms.
Aniruddha Deepak Paranjape, Anhad Singh Bajaj, Shaheen Thimmaiah Palanganda, Radha Parikh, Raahil Nayak, and Jayakrishnan Radhakrishnan
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 149–157, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-149-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-149-2021, 2021
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This project is a comparative study that takes into consideration various airfoils from the Selig, NACA, and Eppler families and models them as diffusers of the wind turbine. The efficiency of the diffuser-augmented wind turbine can be enhanced by optimizing the geometry of the diffuser shape. Their subsequent performance trends were then analyzed, and the lower-performing airfoils were systematically eliminated to leave us with an optimum design.
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Short summary
The small wind community relies on simplified wind models and energy production simulation tools to obtain energy generation expectations. We gathered actual wind speed and turbine production data across the US to test the accuracy of models and tools for small wind turbines. This study provides small wind installers and owners with the error metrics and sources of error associated with using models and tools to make performance estimates, empowering them to adjust expectations accordingly.
The small wind community relies on simplified wind models and energy production simulation tools...
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