title: Two methods for estimating limits to large-scale wind power generation.
abstract: Wind turbines remove kinetic energy from the atmospheric flow, which reduces wind speeds and limits generation rates of large wind farms. These interactions can be approximated using a vertical kinetic energy (VKE) flux method, which predicts that the maximum power generation potential is 26% of the instantaneous downward transport of kinetic energy using the preturbine climatology. We compare the energy flux method to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional atmospheric model equipped with a wind turbine parameterization over a 10(5) km2 region in the central United States. The WRF simulations yield a maximum generation of 1.1 We⋅m(-2), whereas the VKE method predicts the time series while underestimating the maximum generation rate by about 50%. Because VKE derives the generation limit from the preturbine climatology, potential changes in the vertical kinetic energy flux from the free atmosphere are not considered. Such changes are important at night when WRF estimates are about twice the VKE value because wind turbines interact with the decoupled nocturnal low-level jet in this region. Daytime estimates agree better to 20% because the wind turbines induce comparatively small changes to the downward kinetic energy flux. This combination of downward transport limits and wind speed reductions explains why large-scale wind power generation in windy regions is limited to about 1 We⋅m(-2), with VKE capturing this combination in a comparatively simple way.
authors: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07701 Jena, Germany; lmiller@bgc-jena.mpg.de.
authors: Lee M
authors: LM
authors: Miller
authors: University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045;
authors: Nathaniel A
authors: NA
authors: Brunsell
authors: University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045;
authors: David B
authors: DB
authors: Mechem
authors: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07701 Jena, Germany;
authors: Fabian
authors: F
authors: Gans
authors: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80305;
authors: Andrew J
authors: AJ
authors: Monaghan
authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Laboratoire Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, CNRS, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Gif/Yvette Cedex, 78000 Versailles, France;
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Vautard
authors: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
authors: David W
authors: DW
authors: Keith
authors: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07701 Jena, Germany;
authors: Axel
authors: A
authors: Kleidon
keywords: extraction limits; generation limits; kinetic energy flux; turbine–atmosphere interactions; wind resource