Larger wind turbines as a solution to reduce environmental impacts

Naveed Akhtar; Beate Geyer; Corinna Schrum

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-56731-w

Larger wind turbines as a solution to reduce environmental impacts

Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 19;14(1):6608. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-56731-w.

Authors

Naveed Akhtar¹, Beate Geyer², Corinna Schrum^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Geesthacht, Germany. naveed.akhtar@hereon.de.
² Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Geesthacht, Germany.
³ Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Institute of Oceanography, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

The EU aims for carbon neutrality by 2050, focusing on offshore wind energy. Investments in North Sea wind farms, with optimal wind resources, play a crucial role. We employed a high-resolution regional climate model, which incorporates a wind farm parametrization, to investigate and address potential mitigating impacts of large wind farms on power generation and air-sea fluxes. Specifically, we examined the effects of replacing 5 MW turbines with larger 15 MW turbines while maintaining total capacity. Our study found that substituting 15 MW turbines increases the capacity factor by 2-3%, enhancing efficiency. However, these turbines exhibit a slightly smaller impact on 10 m wind speed (1.2-1.5%) and near-surface kinetic energy (0.1-0.2%), leading to reduced effects on sea surface heat fluxes compared to 5 MW turbines. This was confirmed by a stronger reduction in net heat flux of about 0.6-1.3% in simulations with 5 MW compared to 15 MW wind turbines. Air-sea fluxes influence ocean dynamics and marine ecosystems; therefore, minimizing these impacts is crucial. Overall, deploying 15 MW turbines in offshore wind farms may offer advantages for ocean dynamics and marine ecosystems, supporting the EU's carbon-neutral objectives.