Can large wind farms affect local meteorology?

Abstract

[1] The RAMS model was used to explore the possible impacts of a large wind farm in the Great Plains region on the local meteorology over synoptic timescales under typical summertime conditions. A wind turbine was approximated as a sink of energy and source of turbulence. The wind farm was created by assuming an array of such turbines. Results show that the wind farm significantly slows down the wind at the turbine hub-height level. Additionally, turbulence generated by rotors create eddies that can enhance vertical mixing of momentum, heat, and scalars, usually leading to a warming and drying of the surface air and reduced surface sensible heat flux. This effect is most intense in the early morning hours when the boundary layer is stably stratified and the hub-height level wind speed is the strongest due to the nocturnal low-level jet. The impact on evapotranspiration is small.

The Explicit Wake Parametrisation V1.0: a wind farm parametrisation in the mesoscale model WRF

“…In large wind farms, the interaction of the flow and the wind turbines is further complicated by the interaction of the wake of one wind turbine with neighbouring turbines. Besides the changed velocity field around the turbines, there is also evidence that wind turbines affect planetary boundary layer (PBL) processes due to the changed turbulence (Baidya Roy et al, 2004;Calaf et al, 2010;Baidya Roy and Traiteur, 2010;Barrie and KirkDavidoff, 2010;Wang and Prinn, 2010;Lu and Porté-Agel, 2011;Hasager et al, 2013;Fitch et al, 2013a).…”

A Case Study of Land-Surface-Temperature Impact from Large-Scale Deployment of Wind Farms in China from Guazhou

“…A few studies show that the large-scale deployment of wind farms alters the local temperature by up to a few degrees [10,13,[15][16][17], reduces precipitation by up to 20% [18], and even mitigates extreme weather [19]. These studies are basically based on limited observation analysis [13,16,20] or model simulations [12,[21][22][23]. However, due to the lack of observations, the effects of wind farms are usually parameterized into numerical models by explicitly increasing either surface roughness length or turbulence kinetic energy [24] and the simulating results from these models do not always agree owing to the model or region adopted [25,26], especially the parameterization model of the wind farm effects.…”

“…Wind turbines could modify the surface-atmosphere exchanges by increasing surface roughness [8][9][10], changing the stability of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) [11], enhancing turbulence in the rotor wakes [12,13], and interrupting the low-level-jet in stable ABL [14]. A few studies show that the large-scale deployment of wind farms alters the local temperature by up to a few degrees [10,13,[15][16][17], reduces precipitation by up to 20% [18], and even mitigates extreme weather [19].…”

Direct and Large-Eddy Simulation VIII

“…Results have shown that large wind farms do increase scalar fluxes, as it was earlier foreseen by [11]. This increase is the result of two competing effects: one, a major increase of u * ,hi (∼ 50%); two, a decrease due to lower u * ,lo near the ground.…”