Wakes

Offshore wind energy requires space. The closer wind farms are clustered together in the North Sea, the more they influence one another. In a scenario study commissioned by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and Federal Association of Offshore Wind Energy (BWO), we at Fraunhofer IWES investigated how relocating planned generation capacity from Germany’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to Denmark and Sweden could reduce wake effects.

When the wind passes through the rotor disc of a wind turbine with its rotating blades, the wind speed behind the turbine is reduced – the turbine extracts kinetic energy from the wind to convert it into electrical energy. This…

All wind turbine and wind farm operators and owners know what questions to expect at the end of each quarter or the year: Is the energy yield satisfactory? What does the wind farm’s yield to date mean for the future?…