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Has any research been done on the effects of wind farms on local wind/weather patterns? It seems like taking energy out of the wind in a relatively concentrated

Has any research been done on the effects of wind farms on local wind/weather patterns? It seems like taking energy out of the wind in a relatively concentrated area would have downstream effects. (I'm not anti-wind energy, I'm just curious).

lofi_lory 6y ago
I think offshore wind farms have been proposed to protect the US from hurricanes. So apparently they substantially decrease wind energy.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- cr1895 6y ago
  > offshore wind farms have been proposed to protect the US from hurricanes No, certainly not seriously.
  - lofi_lory 6y ago
    https://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/hurricane-winds-turbine-022614.html https://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/hurricane-winds...
    - cr1895 6y ago
      An estimate of 78,000 turbines is truly a thought experiment, not a realistic solution. There does not exist manufacturing capacity or installation capacity to achieve this (not even remotely close). The offshore wind pipeline, globally, is orders of magnitude fewer WTGs, and procurement & installation pressure is already expected to be very tight in the coming decade. This is made more difficult in the US due to the complexities of offshore wind installation imposed by the Jones Act. It’s a neat concept. But it will never be realized.
baq 6y ago
i'm not aware of any comparisons but imagine a sparse forest.
snowzach 6y ago
An interesting thought I've wondered about as well. I imagine the risks outweigh the benefits. I would think the same thing would happen when planting a forest (granted it taking much longer to produce an effect)
Emma_Goldman 6y ago
There's some research that wind farms at scale have a small but non-negligible warming effect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511830446X# https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511...!
achow 6y ago
Wind encounters far more resistance and obstacles when sweeping over land, ex. cities with buildings (tall and small) and other man made structures and then there are various natural ones - trees, hills, etc. Windmill probably is much less of a drag (pun!) as compared to above.
mensetmanusman 6y ago
Yes, This is my favorite infrastructure project concept: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/offshore-wind-farms-could-knock-down-hurricanes1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/offshore-wind-far... help with hurricanes, direct DC to the entire country, tons of jobs for maintenance, etc
Someone 6y ago
Yes, research has been done, if only because knowing about that is essential for figuring out at what distance from each other you should place your turbines. See for example https://energyfollower.com/wind-turbine-spacing https://energyfollower.com/wind-turbine-spacing, https://ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol15/014/ecp57vol15_014.pdf https://ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol15/014/ecp57vol15_014.pdf

lofi_lory 6y ago

I think offshore wind farms have been proposed to protect the US from hurricanes. So apparently they substantially decrease wind energy.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
cr1895 6y ago
> offshore wind farms have been proposed to protect the US from hurricanes No, certainly not seriously.
- lofi_lory 6y ago
  https://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/hurricane-winds-turbine-022614.html https://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/hurricane-winds...
  - cr1895 6y ago
    An estimate of 78,000 turbines is truly a thought experiment, not a realistic solution. There does not exist manufacturing capacity or installation capacity to achieve this (not even remotely close). The offshore wind pipeline, globally, is orders of magnitude fewer WTGs, and procurement & installation pressure is already expected to be very tight in the coming decade. This is made more difficult in the US due to the complexities of offshore wind installation imposed by the Jones Act. It’s a neat concept. But it will never be realized.

baq 6y ago

i'm not aware of any comparisons but imagine a sparse forest.

snowzach 6y ago

An interesting thought I've wondered about as well. I imagine the risks outweigh the benefits. I would think the same thing would happen when planting a forest (granted it taking much longer to produce an effect)

Emma_Goldman 6y ago

There's some research that wind farms at scale have a small but non-negligible warming effect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511830446X# https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511...!

achow 6y ago

Wind encounters far more resistance and obstacles when sweeping over land, ex. cities with buildings (tall and small) and other man made structures and then there are various natural ones - trees, hills, etc. Windmill probably is much less of a drag (pun!) as compared to above.

mensetmanusman 6y ago

Yes, This is my favorite infrastructure project concept: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/offshore-wind-farms-could-knock-down-hurricanes1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/offshore-wind-far... help with hurricanes, direct DC to the entire country, tons of jobs for maintenance, etc

Someone 6y ago

Yes, research has been done, if only because knowing about that is essential for figuring out at what distance from each other you should place your turbines. See for example https://energyfollower.com/wind-turbine-spacing https://energyfollower.com/wind-turbine-spacing, https://ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol15/014/ecp57vol15_014.pdf https://ep.liu.se/ecp/057/vol15/014/ecp57vol15_014.pdf