Speaker
Description
To decarbonize its power sector, the European Union plans a major expansion of wind energy in the North Sea. However, closely spaced turbines can cause wake losses, which may aggregate at the wind farm scale and extend tens of kilometers. This study examines the cost of inter-farm wake effects, accounting for the correlation between wind speed and electricity prices. As a case study, we assess the planned Princess Elisabeth Zone (PEZ) and its potential impact on the existing Belgian North Sea cluster. Previous work used the meso-scale climate model COSMO-CLM with the Fitch wind farm parameterization to estimate wind farm energy production for both the current and a potential future layout that includes PEZ. The difference in energy production of the existing Belgian cluster between both runs is attributed to the PEZ’s wake effect and parameterized by wind speed and direction. The energy deficit is applied to ERA5 wind velocity time series, enabling synchronous multiplication with historical electricity prices. This yields a hypothetical cost of wake losses that reflects the historical wind-price correlation. For the years 2016 to 2024, the cost of wake losses relative to revenue from the existing cluster (without PEZ) ranges from 6.93% to 10.01% . For all years except 2021, this cost is slightly lower than when using average electricity prices, suggesting that wakes tend to occur during periods of below-average prices. This is linked to the wind speed distribution in the direction of the wake effect.
| If your abstract is not accepted for an oral presentation, would you be interested in presenting it as a poster instead? | Yes |
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| If accepted by the Scientific Board, I agree to have my presentation/poster and abstract published on the Belgian Climate Centre websites and social media. | Yes |
