MS#01.5 Wind resource for next generation 25+MW wind turbines: high altitude profiles and deviations from MOST

B. CONAN¹, S. WATSON², J. REUDER³
¹ LHEEA Centrale Nantes - CNRS|² TU Delft|³ University of Bergen

Wind resource, metocean and extreme conditions

The next generation 25+MW offshore wind turbines (OWTs) have a scale that puts the top of the rotor above the Ekman layer. Although there as been some research to define parametric profiles which extend above the surface layer (where Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST) has successfully been used) the validation of such profiles has been limited and they require extra parameters that are not readily available. In addition, next generation OWTs are mostly intended to be installed in the near offshore region, some tens of kilometres from the coast, where the land-sea transition plays a crucial role and where an enhanced dynamic interaction between water and the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer is at play by means of waves, coastal bathymetry, local currents, and tidal dynamics. In turn, these multi-scale interactions produce complex local atmospheric flow phenomena, such as the wave boundary layer, low-level jets, coastal breezes, extreme wind shear, extreme wind veer, causing a wide range of wind conditions and significant deviations from the classical description of well-mixed ABL conditions (e.g., Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory, power law, Kaimal turbulent spectra).

This mini-symposium aims at gathering presentations analysing the wind resource for the next generation OWT. The scope gathers research on the atmospheric boundary layer at high altitude including inland, coastal and offshore area.  This MS is open to observations, theoretical work, numerical simulations (at all scales), and laboratory experiment on:

• studies on tall wind profiles (>200m)
• deviations to MOST (including land-sea transition, coastal breezes, wind-wave interaction)