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On the Impact of Wind Farms on a Convective Atmospheric Boundary Layer

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Abstract

With the rapid growth in the number of wind turbines installed worldwide, a demand exists for a clear understanding of how wind farms modify land-atmosphere exchanges. Here, we conduct three-dimensional large-eddy simulations to investigate the impact of wind farms on a convective atmospheric boundary layer. Surface temperature and heat flux are determined using a surface thermal energy balance approach, coupled with the solution of a three-dimensional heat equation in the soil. We study several cases of aligned and staggered wind farms with different streamwise and spanwise spacings. The farms consist of Siemens SWT-2.3-93 wind turbines. Results reveal that, in the presence of wind turbines, the stability of the atmospheric boundary layer is modified, the boundary-layer height is increased, and the magnitude of the surface heat flux is slightly reduced. Results also show an increase in land-surface temperature, a slight reduction in the vertically-integrated temperature, and a heterogeneous spatial distribution of the surface heat flux.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 200021-132122 and IZERZ0-142168), and the Swiss Innovation and Technology Committee (CTI) within the context of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research ‘FURIES: Future Swiss Electrical Infrastructure.’ Computing resources were provided by the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) under project s542. The authors are indebted to Dr. Wei Zhang and Dr. Corey D. Markfort for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China

    Hao Lu

  2. Wind Engineering and Renewable Energy Laboratory (WIRE), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Fernando Porté-Agel

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  1. Hao Lu
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  2. Fernando Porté-Agel
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Correspondence to Fernando Porté-Agel.

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Lu, H., Porté-Agel, F. On the Impact of Wind Farms on a Convective Atmospheric Boundary Layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 157, 81–96 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-015-0049-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-015-0049-1

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