Characteristics of wind turbine wakes in an intensively managed agricultural area

In recent years, a large number of wind turbines have been constructed in the Midwest to meet the DOE goal of 20% of all electrical generation from wind power by 2030. Several offshore studies have shown significant reductions power generation in wind turbines of consecutive rows behind the initial row; these power reductions are due to both decreases in wind speed and increases in turbulence. However, little is known about the turbine-to-turbine interactions within wind farms located in crop land. We observed turbine wakes over a crop surface by use of a LIDAR placed approximately 180m downwind of a line of turbines in an Iowa wind farm . The LIDAR enables measurements at altitudes throughout the vertical extent of the turbine rotor disk. LIDAR data have been compared to simulations from the 3-D Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model on a 10km grid and a 2-D WRF version with a wind turbine wake parameterization.