The wind industry’s Olympian drive to continue upscaling offshore turbine size could come under the microscope after new calculus concluded conventional engineering modelling of ‘wake’ – the turbulence created by rotor blades as wind moves through an array – has “vastly underpredicted” energy losses linked to so-called “external wakes” – particularly for the ultra-large-class machines now heading for the water.
Wake-up call | Energy-sapping turbulence at offshore wind projects 'vastly underpredicted'
'Velocity deficits' equal to 10% drop in wind speed modelled by ArcVera at zones in US Atlantic in the frame for arrays built around ultra-large class, 12MW-plus units
17 August 2022 14:51 GMT
Updated
16 October 2023 14:09 GMT
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