Regional climate model simulations indicate limited climatic impacts by operational and planned European wind farms

Robert Vautard (), Françoise Thais, Isabelle Tobin, François-Marie Bréon, Jean-Guy Devezeaux de Lavergne, Augustin Colette, Pascal Yiou and Paolo Michele Ruti
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Robert Vautard: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, IPSL, laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ Orme des Merisiers
Françoise Thais: I-Tésé, Institut de Technico-Economie des Systèmes Energétiques CEA/DEN/DANS Centre de Saclay Batiment 125
Isabelle Tobin: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, IPSL, laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ Orme des Merisiers
François-Marie Bréon: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, IPSL, laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ Orme des Merisiers
Jean-Guy Devezeaux de Lavergne: I-Tésé, Institut de Technico-Economie des Systèmes Energétiques CEA/DEN/DANS Centre de Saclay Batiment 125
Augustin Colette: Institut National de l’Environnement industriel et de RISques, Parc Technologique Alata, BP2
Pascal Yiou: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, IPSL, laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ Orme des Merisiers
Paolo Michele Ruti: ENEA Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The rapid development of wind energy has raised concerns about environmental impacts. Temperature changes are found in the vicinity of wind farms and previous simulations have suggested that large-scale wind farms could alter regional climate. However, assessments of the effects of realistic wind power development scenarios at the scale of a continent are missing. Here we simulate the impacts of current and near-future wind energy production according to European Union energy and climate policies. We use a regional climate model describing the interactions between turbines and the atmosphere, and find limited impacts. A statistically significant signal is only found in winter, with changes within ±0.3 °C and within 0–5% for precipitation. It results from the combination of local wind farm effects and changes due to a weak, but robust, anticyclonic-induced circulation over Europe. However, the impacts remain much weaker than the natural climate interannual variability and changes expected from greenhouse gas emissions.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4196

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