WESD Wind Energy Science Discussions WESD Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss. 2366-7621 Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/wes-2026-59 Comment on "A theoretical upper limit for offshore wind energy extraction" by Simão Ferreira et al. (2026) van der Laan Maarten Paul https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8778-2302 1 Watson Simon https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6694-3149 2 Technical University of Denmark, DTU Wind and Energy Systems, Risø Campus, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HS Delft, the Netherlands 24 04 2026 2026 1 13 Copyright: © 2026 Maarten Paul van der Laan 2026 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-59/ The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://wes.copernicus.org/preprints/wes-2026-59/wes-2026-59.pdf

A theoretical limit for the energy extraction of offshore wind farms has been suggested by Sim&atilde;o Ferreira et al. (2026) based on a simple analytical model that was originally designed to provide an estimate of the wake loss of an infinite wind farm. Sim&atilde;o Ferreira et al. (2026) validated the model with 72 offshore wind farms using an <em>ad hoc</em> and undocumented method to correct the model for application to finite wind farms. In this work, we discuss a number of concerns regarding the reproducibility of the finite wind farm correction and its sensitivity to the model results and validation, as well as the application of the model to assess national policies. We conclude that the limit proposed in Sim&atilde;o Ferreira et al. (2026) is not a theoretical limit but a model limit that is strongly dependent on the finite wind farm correction.