Idealized simulations of the interaction between wind farms and the atmospheric boundary layer

Wind turbines represent a unique land use due to 1.) being superimposed over existing land use types and 2.) the height to which they extend into the atmospheric boundary layer. A parameterization to represent wind farms has been developed for the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The wind farm parameterization, designed to conserve energy, modifies the tendency terms for u component of the wind, v component of the wind, and turbulent kinetic energy (tke) within the boundary layer. Idealized 2-D simulations designed to identify the important processes that occur within and downwind of wind farms will be presented. These simulations illustrate the atmospheric response to wind farms under a variety of different stability, moisture, and wind profiles. Identification of important boundary layer processes related to the operation of wind farms provides insight into the possible impacts of wind farms on local meteorology. This work aims to better understand the role of wind farm generated turbulence on energy dissipation in the planetary boundary layer, a knowledge needed in order to be able to quantify the global atmospheric efficiency of wind energy. Additionally, this talk will examine the limitations of parameterizing wind farms by comparing how the wind farm parameterization behaves when coupled with two different pbl schemes (YSU and MYJ).