Side Effects of Wind Energy: Review of Three Topics—Status and Open Questions

Abstract

Wind energy is considered a pillar of the low-carbon energy system of the future. Whereas the side effects and social costs of fossil energy sources (coal, oil and gas), as well as those of nuclear energy, are well-documented and quantified, understanding of the analogous questions with respect to wind energy is far less advanced. However, such understanding is crucial in order to minimize the influence of wind energy on the environment and to compare its social costs with those of conventional energy sources. Here, we summarize the state of knowledge of three side effects of wind energy that have not been convincingly evaluated to date. We focus our analysis on three topics, namely (1) the impact of wind energy on insects; (2) the impact of wind energy on the spatiotemporal distribution of air velocity, temperature, moisture and precipitation in the vicinity of wind parks; and (3) the impact of wind energy on humans through noise emission. For each topic, we formulate open research questions that should be addressed by responsible policy incentives in order to comprehensively assess the social costs of wind energy and to develop wind farms with minimal impact on their environment.

Estimating Maximum Power from Wind Turbines with a Simple Newtonian Approach

“…There may be ways to take advantage of this knowledge in managing power systems. The other challenges to successful adoption of wind power referred to in the Introduction (Elgendi et al, 2023;Thess & Lengsfeld, 2022;Veers et al, 2019;Viré et al, 2022) need the best intellectual research and practice possible for their solution, even if this requires an action revision of the current Bernoulli-based fluid mechanics. Meyers et al (2022) have pointed out how the complex physics of turbulent flows that we discuss here challenge collective control of arrayed wind turbines.…”

“…Our proposal of mesoscale vortical energy sustaining anticyclonic winds may have strong implications for new understanding since wind power is no longer based directly on kinetic energy (Kennedy & Hodzic, 2023). The impact of wind energy on insects, on spatial distribution of air velocity, temperature, moisture, and precipitation in the vicinity of wind parks with noise all attract attention that may be related to the novel mechanisms of wind power discussed in this article (Thess, & Lengsfeld, 2022). Extracting power from wind in complex terrain using actuator disk models could also benefit from better understanding of atmospheric dynamics in rougher surfaces (Elgendi et al, 2023).…”

Large-Eddy Simulation of Wind Turbine Wakes in Forest Terrain

“…Moreover, studies on the interaction between the near wake vortex system (e.g., tip vortex and hub vortex) and the forest canopy are certainly important and should be carried out in the future using an actuator surface model and forest parameterization models of higher fidelity. As the wind turbine wake can significantly change the turbulence above the forest canopy, it certainly will affect the humidity and temperature in the forest, which is of great importance to our living environment and should be investigated systematically [74][75][76].…”