Power and Wind Shear Implications of Large Wind Turbine Scenarios in the US Central Plains

Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Tristan J. Shepherd, Jeanie A. Aird and Sara C. Pryor
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Rebecca J. Barthelmie: Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Tristan J. Shepherd: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Jeanie A. Aird: Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Sara C. Pryor: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: Continued growth of wind turbine physical dimensions is examined in terms of the implications for wind speed, power and shear across the rotor plane. High-resolution simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model are used to generate statistics of wind speed profiles for scenarios of current and future wind turbines. The nine-month simulations, focused on the eastern Central Plains, show that the power scales broadly as expected with the increase in rotor diameter ( D ) and wind speeds at hub-height ( H ). Increasing wind turbine dimensions from current values (approximately H = 100 m, D = 100 m) to those of the new International Energy Agency reference wind turbine ( H = 150 m, D = 240 m), the power across the rotor plane increases 7.1 times. The mean domain-wide wind shear exponent ( α ) decreases from 0.21 ( H = 100 m, D = 100 m) to 0.19 for the largest wind turbine scenario considered ( H = 168 m, D = 248 m) and the frequency of extreme positive shear ( α > 0.2) declines from 48% to 38% of 10-min periods. Thus, deployment of larger wind turbines potentially yields considerable net benefits for both the wind resource and reductions in fatigue loading related to vertical shear.

Keywords: Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model; shear exponent; rotor equivalent wind speeds; wind turbines; wind energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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