P45     Wind Farm Mean Annual Wake estimation and its impact on surrounding environment

 

Otero-Casal, Carlos, Miguel Ángel Prósper, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain, Felipe Canoura, Norvento S.L.U., Spain, and Gonzalo Miguez-Macho, USC, Spain

 

Local wake impact on flow conditions around wind farms are known to affect significantly wind energy production. We perform here simulations with the WRF model using the Fitch scheme for a densely exploited complex terrain region in Galicia, in northwest Spain, with high wind resource. A period of one year is simulated at 333m horizontal resolution, with a daily operational forecasting set-up. Power and wind predictions are obtained and compared with real data provided by the management company. Results show that WRF yields good wind power operational predictions for this kind of wind farms, due to a good representation of the planetary boundary layer behavior of the region and the good performance of the Fitch scheme under these conditions. Significant wake effects are observed for several kilometers downwind from the farm especially in the prevailing wind directions (southwest-northeast). These results show that this method can provide valuable information, for possible wind farm future locations.