Summary Report: The Shadow effect of large wind farms: measurements, data analysis and modelling: Risø-R-1615 (EN)

It was the goal of the project – by means of data from the demonstration wind farms Horns Rev and Nysted, analyses of these data and modelling – to facilitate prediction of the power losses from a wind farm should a new wind farm be built upwind relative to the prevailing wind direction. Or conversely, predict with adequate accuracy the production of a new wind farm built downwind of an existing wind farm. The project should be seen in the perspective of the two existing demonstration wind farms that extend 5-10 km in each direction. In order to e.g. use the existing electrical infrastructure it may appropriate to build new wind farms rather close to the existing wind farms. A relevant question is therefore how far away new wind farms must be placed to avoid too large power losses. Measurements have been carried out for several years at the two sites, and databases have been prepared. The databases – one for each site – include production and operational statistics for the wind turbines and statistics for the meteorological measurements carries out in the vicinity of the wind farms. Several different modelling activities were carried out, which intentionally to some extent are redundant. Thus, if different modelling efforts results in comparable results, the quality of the models will be tested outside the physical range where data are available. All considered the project participants find that the project has been immensely successful. The main achievements of the project are: • Measurements were carried out at the Nysted and Horns Rev demonstration wind farms for several years. Doing so included design, installation and operation of the measurement system • A data base was built from the incoming data. The data have been organized to facilitate verification of the models developed as part of the project • 6-7 different models have been developed and compared. • Approximately 20 journal and conference papers have resulted directly from the project.