Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
Analysis 01: OWF Effect on the Atmosphere
The analysis of OWF
s influence on the atmosphere and ocean is separated into
three parts. Two parts study the effect of offshore wind farms on the atmosphere
based on an idealized model area—the ocean box. Part 3 (Chap.
6
) gives insight into
the future of the German Bight regarding plans of wind farm development in 2030.
Before running the ocean model, it was necessary to find usable atmospheric
forcing data, especially wind data considering wind turbines. Here, different
appendages were chosen.
As mentioned before, wind turbines are used to transform wind energy into
electrical energy. The main consequence of this transformation is a reduction of
wind speed in the wind field behind wind turbines. This reduction of wind speed is
called wake effect. The wake effect is the main component of this study, which
drives and controls all following introduced processes and phenomena in the ocean.
Hence, this chapter analyzes the wake effect with its incidents and conditions. The
results are exemplified in observed and modeled wake effects.
'
4.1 Observed Effects
In the field of observed OWF effects on the atmosphere, there exists a handful of
paper in literature. With a pioneer position in that field is M. Christiansen. She
analyzes wind changes around OWFs using satellite data based on radar methods.
An important example is Horns Rev, a Danish wind farm consisting of 80 wind
turbines. Hasager et al. (
2013
) analyzed the occurrence of fog in the wake vortex
behind turbines. The fog formation behind turbines uncovers the wind wake of each
turbine. Hasager studied the appearance of fog, which appears due to advection of
cold humid air over much warmer water surface; the possibility of upward mixing
of saturated air from the surface into the cooler layer exist, and that can cause
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