Seasonal variability of wake impacts on US mid-Atlantic offshore wind plant power production

Rosencrans, David; Lundquist, Julie K.; Optis, Mike; Rybchuk, Alex; Bodini, Nicola; Rossol, Michael

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-555-2024

Articles | Volume 9, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-555-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-9-555-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 3

Research article

|

14 Mar 2024

Research article |

| 14 Mar 2024

Seasonal variability of wake impacts on US mid-Atlantic offshore wind plant power production

David Rosencrans, Julie K. Lundquist, Mike Optis, Alex Rybchuk, Nicola Bodini, and Michael Rossol

Data sets

2023 National Offshore Wind data set (NOW-23) National Renewable Energy Laboratory https://doi.org/10.25984/1821404

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

Renewable Energy GIS Data Bureau of Ocean Energy Management https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/mapping-and-data/renewable-energy-gis-data

Model code and software

mid-Atlantic_turbines D. Rosencrans https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7374283

mid-Atlantic_namelists David Rosencrans https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7374239

Short summary

The US offshore wind industry is developing rapidly. Using yearlong simulations of wind plants in the US mid-Atlantic, we assess the impacts of wind turbine wakes. While wakes are the strongest and longest during summertime stably stratified conditions, when New England grid demand peaks, they are predictable and thus manageable. Over a year, wakes reduce power output by over 35 %. Wakes in a wind plant contribute the most to that reduction, while wakes between wind plants play a secondary role.