Using Climatology and Modeling for Regional Offshore Wind Farm Optimization

The region offshore of the mid-Atlantic and northeast United States is highly favorable to the development of offshore wind farms; determining the optimal locations and layouts for these wind farms is key to their success. Furthermore, the impact of turbulent wakes on wind farm power production continues to be an active area of research, attempting to minimize wake losses and maximize production. We use wind climatology obtained from NOAA offshore buoys to drive an idealized version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to evaluate individual wind farm performance using various array geometries during a climatologically average year. Following this initial evaluation, we run the model regionally, using reanalysis forcing data. We evaluate the interactions between layout and power production of several wind farms, accounting for seasonal wind variability and grid load requirements. This method allows for determination of wind farm configurations throughout the East Coast offshore region to ensure they can provide optimal power production throughout the year.