Turbulence in a coastal environment: the case of Vindeby

Abstract

Abstract. The one-point and two-point power spectral densities of the wind velocity fluctuations are studied using the observations from an offshore mast at Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm, for a wide range of thermal stratifications of the atmosphere. A comparison with estimates from the FINO1 platform (North Sea) is made to identify shared spectral characteristics of turbulence between different offshore sites. The sonic anemometer measurement data at 6, 18, and 45 m a.m.s.l. (above mean sea level) are considered. These heights are lower than at the FINO1 platform, where the measurements were collected at heights between 40 and 80 m. Although the sonic anemometers are affected by transducer-flow distortion, the spectra of the along-wind velocity component are consistent with those from FINO1 when surface-layer scaling is used, for near-neutral and moderately diabatic conditions. The co-coherence of the along-wind component, estimated for vertical separations under near-neutral conditions, matches remarkably well with the results from the dataset at the FINO1 platform. These findings mark an important step toward more comprehensive coherence models for wind load calculation. The turbulence characteristics estimated from the present dataset are valuable for better understanding the structure of turbulence in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and are relevant for load estimations of offshore wind turbines. Yet, the datasets recorded at Vindeby and FINO1 cover only the lower part of the rotor of state-of-the-art offshore wind turbines. Further improvements in the characterisation of atmospheric turbulence for wind turbine design will require measurements at heights above 100 m a.m.s.l.

Winds of Change: A Study on the Resource Viability of Offshore Wind Energy in Montenegro

“…The results regarding the presence of resource potential for wind power plant construction at sea in Montenegro are presented in Table 8. Block assessment criteria: The block does not have the resource potential needed to build a wind farm (0); The block has the resource potential needed to build a wind power plant (1-2); The block has a high resource potential required for the construction of a wind power plant (3)(4); The block has extremely high resource potential required for the construction of a wind power plant (6)(7)(8)(9).…”

“…Windmills for grinding grain appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 12th century, and the first wind generator was built in Denmark in 1891 [8]. Exactly one hundred years after the construction of the first land-based wind turbine, Denmark also saw the construction of the first offshore wind farm, Vindeby, in 1991, situated in sea depths of 2 to 5 m. This wind farm, comprising 11 turbines each with a capacity of 450 kW, generated electrical energy until 2016 [9]. The first commercial floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland, was commissioned in the UK in 2017 [10].…”