THE EFFECT OF LATITUDE ON WIND FARMS POWER GENERATION
Abstract
As you travel from the equator toward the poles, the Coriolis effect becomes more important. This means that at higher latitudes, the Coriolis force is stronger. Notably, the Coriolis force significantly impacts the power generation of wind farms. We conducted twenty-one Large Eddy Simulations to examine how latitude (and the resulting Coriolis force) affects wind farms. These simulations involved imaginary wind farms, each comprising three turbines, positioned in the northern and southern hemispheres, as well as at the equator. We also varied the axial spacing between turbines, increasing it from 5D to 9D, to determine if this change enhances power production at different latitudes and to what extent. Our results indicate that at higher latitudes and with greater axial spacing, power production sees a more significant increase. For example, at a latitude of +80 degrees, the wind farm with three turbines experienced a power increase of 0.26%, 1.64%, and 2.71% for the 5D, 7D, and 9D cases, respectively, compared to wind farms at the equator (latitude of zero degrees).
Publication Title
Proceedings of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Summer Conference
Recommended Citation
Nouri, R., Vasel-Be-Hagh, A., & Foti, D. (2024). THE EFFECT OF LATITUDE ON WIND FARMS POWER GENERATION. Proceedings of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Summer Conference, 123-132. https://doi.org/10.1615/TFEC2024.aes.051161
