Investigating the physical mechanisms that modify  wind plant blockage in stable boundary layers

Sanchez Gomez, Miguel; Lundquist, Julie K.; Mirocha, Jeffrey D.; Arthur, Robert S.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1049-2023

Articles | Volume 8, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1049-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-8-1049-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 8, issue 7

Research article

|

04 Jul 2023

Research article |

| 04 Jul 2023

Investigating the physical mechanisms that modify wind plant blockage in stable boundary layers

Miguel Sanchez Gomez, Julie K. Lundquist, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, and Robert S. Arthur

Data sets

Supporting files for WRF-LES simulations in ``Investigating the physical mechanisms that modify wind plant blockage in stable boundary layers'' M. Sanchez Gomez https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7604167

Model code and software

miguel-sg-2/WRF_versions: WRF v4.1.5 code for idealized simulations M. Sanchez Gomez, R. Arthur, and J. D. Mirocha https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8083642

Short summary

The wind slows down as it approaches a wind plant; this phenomenon is called blockage. As a result, the turbines in the wind plant produce less power than initially anticipated. We investigate wind plant blockage for two atmospheric conditions. Blockage is larger for a wind plant compared to a stand-alone turbine. Also, blockage increases with atmospheric stability. Blockage is amplified by the vertical transport of horizontal momentum as the wind approaches the front-row turbines in the array.