1) Wind energy is a potential source of large amounts of carbon-emission-free energy. Wind farms are built to extract kinetic energy from winds. Wind farms, however, can cast a wind shadow, or a wake, and affect wind farms downstream. The turbines of the wind farm actually extract some kinetic energy from winds, and it takes awhile for the wind to return to normal strength.
2) The size of the wind shadow is determined by how fast the winds blow over the wind farm, and the time it takes for the earth’s atmosphere to replenish the kinetic energy extracted by the turbines of the wind farm.
3) The researchers suggest it is more effective to build smaller multiple wind farms with enough spaces between so that the winds have more time to recover kinetic energy.
Journal source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Spatial constraints in large-scale expansion of wind power plants
July 6, 2021