Better understanding of complex wind shear could bring down costs

A new investigation by the UK Met Office says wind industry has to improve its understanding of complex wind shear and employ collaborative action to further reduce levelised cost of energy (LCOE).

Levelised cost of energy is one of the barriers to future growth faced by the wind industry, Met Office said in a statement on Friday, adding that its latest whitepaper reveals gaps in knowledge and explains how collaborative action could lead to more accurate energy yield predictions and optimised asset placement, ultimately reducing LCOE.

Some surface features and atmospheric effects cause turbulence, eddies and low-level jets, in which moving air changes speed and direction over relatively small distances. This situation can lead to the phenomenon of faster wind speeds occurring below slower ones. It is this non-standard wind profile with height that is called complex wind shear.

For wind farm operators, complex wind shear can be problematic as it makes energy output hard to forecast, causes wear and tear on components and makes performance difficult to assess. It can also cost dearly to both producers and grid operators in balancing expenses.

The Met Office is calling for help to carry out a systematic study of locations, the causes of wind shear, and involve the modelling of complex profiles. The aim is to develop models to forecast its occurrence, ahead of individual events, and study it climatologically. This would allow operators to mitigate against its effects, for example by changing the planned site, hub height or length of turbine blades, or adjust production forecasts and schedule maintenance effectively.

The Met Office is seeking interest from developers, operators and investors who are keen to reduce investment risk and obtain greater generation certainty by sharing their observations, expertise on the impacts of wind shear and case studies of specific wind shear related events.

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