Recovery Processes in a Large Offshore Wind Farm
Abstract. Wind turbines in a wind farm extract energy from the atmospheric flow and convert it into electricity, resulting in a localized momentum deficit in the wake that reduces energy availability for downwind turbines. Atmospheric momentum convergence from above, below and sides into the wakes replenish the lost momentum, at least partially, so that turbines deep inside a wind farm can continue to function. In this study, we explore recovery processes in a hypothetical offshore wind farm with particular emphasis on comparing the spatial patterns and magnitudes of horizontal and vertical recovery processes and understanding the role of mesoscale processes in momentum recovery in wind farms. For this purpose, we use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, a state-of-the-art mesoscale model equipped with a wind turbine parameterization, to simulate a hypothetical large offshore wind farm with different wind turbine spacings under realistic initial and boundary conditions. Results show that vertical turbulent transport of momentum from aloft is the main contributor to recovery in wind farms except in cases with strong background winds and high inter-turbine spacing where horizontal advective momentum transport can also contribute equally. Vertical recovery shows a systematic dependence on wind speed and wind farm density that can be quantified using low-order empirical equations. Wind farms significantly alter the mesoscale flow patterns, especially for densely packed wind farms under high wind speed conditions. In these cases, the mesoscale circulations created by the wind farms can transport high momentum air from aloft into the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and thus aid in recovery in wind farms. This is a novel study that is one of the first to look at wind farm replenishment processes under realistic meteorological conditions including the role of mesoscale processes. Overall, this study significantly advances our understanding of recovery processes in wind farms and wind farm-ABL interactions.