A look at the most comprehensive wind energy wake experiment in history
A look at the most comprehensive wind energy wake experiment in history lead image
As the world transitions away from fossil fuels and relies more heavily on renewable energy sources like solar and wind, understanding the complex mechanics at work is essential for minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency. For wind power, that involves studying the dynamics of airflow and the wake produced by turbines.
Moriarty et al. outlined the scope of the American WAKE experimeNt (AWAKEN), a multi-institutional effort to collect as much data about wind and wind turbines as possible. They discussed the hypotheses the experiment is designed to address, the type and layout of measuring instruments, and the availability of the resulting data.
The collected results from AWAKEN will not only improve wind turbine performance, but also improve weather forecasting.
“Atmospheric scientists will be observing how the atmosphere is changed by the presence of wind farms and how momentum is exchanged with the wind energy system,” said author Patrick Moriarty. “The engineers will be focused on how the atmosphere and wakes influence the structural loads of turbines that drive component reliability.”
One of the most anticipated insights that will come from AWAKEN data is the effect of a wind farm on others downstream, which will be increasingly relevant as more wind farms are built in proximity to each other.
“We will also be digging into wind farm-atmosphere interactions,” said Moriarty. “We have recently seen some interesting impacts of gravity waves and even captured a tornado moving through the experimental domain, a first-of-its-kind observation. We will translate these data into benchmark exercises, which will be used by the international community to test and ultimately improve wind farm model performance.”
Source: “Overview of preparation for the American WAKE experimeNt (AWAKEN),” by Patrick Moriarty, Nicola Bodini, Stefano Letizia, Aliza Abraham, Tyler Ashley, Konrad B. Bärfuss, Rebecca J. Barthelmie, Alan Brewer, Peter Brugger, Thomas Feuerle, Ariane Frère, Lexie Goldberger, Julia Gottschall, Nicholas Hamilton, Thomas Herges, Brian Hirth, Lin-Ya (Lilian) Hung, Giacomo Valerio Iungo, Hristo Ivanov, Colleen Kaul, Stefan Kern, Petra Klein, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Astrid Lampert, Julie K. Lundquist, Victor R. Morris, Rob Newsom, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Fernando Porte-Agel, Sara C. Pryor, Andrew Scholbrock, John Schroeder, Samuel Shartzer, Eric Simley, Lilén Vöhringer, Sonia Wharton, and Daniel Zalkind, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2024). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0141683 .
This paper is part of the Preparatory Work for the American WAKE experimeNt (AWAKEN) Collection, learn more here .
