Impacts of wind farms on surface air temperatures
Baidya Roy, Somnath; and Traiteur, Justin
Abstract:
Utility-scale large wind farms are rapidly growing in size and numbers all over the world. Data from a meteorological field campaign show that such wind farms can significantly affect near-surface air temperatures. These effects result from enhanced vertical mixing due to turbulence generated by wind turbine rotors. The impacts of wind farms on local weather can be minimized by changing rotor design or by siting wind farms in regions with high natural turbulence. Using a 25-y-long climate dataset, we identified such regions in the world. Many of these regions, such as the Midwest and Great Plains in the United States, are also rich in wind resources, making them ideal candidates for low-impact wind farms.
Somnath Baidya Roy and Justin J. Traiteur
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana
PNAS October 19, 2010 107 (42) 17899-17904; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1000493107 [1]
Download original document: “Impacts of wind farms on surface air temperatures [2]”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/impacts-of-wind-farms-on-surface-air-temperatures/
URLs in this post:
[1] doi: 10.1073/pnas.1000493107: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000493107
[2] Impacts of wind farms on surface air temperatures: https://docs.wind-watch.org/Roy-surface-temps-2010.pdf