Posters

Abstract

Offshore wind farm development in cold climates, particularly with the scale of turbine technology that is forecast for the coming decade, will present interesting challenges for characterising the wind conditions. Future turbine technology is forecast to reach turbine rotor diameters of up to 300 m, requiring top tip heights of up to 380 m, so well in to the atmospheric boundary layer. Such large rotor tip heights and rotor swept areas require an accurate understanding of the wind conditions, not just for the estimation of energy yield production and potential losses, but also as an input to the design basis of offshore foundations. In cold climates, stable atmospheric conditions tend to dominate, which have different wind regime characteristic compared to neutral or unstable atmospheric conditions. To date, the majority of offshore wind farms have been developed in areas with predominantly neutral or unstable atmospheric conditions, and with smaller turbines than are available now. The increasing size of turbines also necessitates a greater understanding of complex wind flow events such as low level jets which are likely to impact the rotor at these higher heights. Whilst investigations in to turbine performance under cold weather driven stable atmospheric conditions have previously been undertaken onshore, very little research has been presented for the same conditions offshore. The authors seek to address that with a dedicated analysis and review of an offshore operational dataset presented here.