Anna Tillin
Lancaster Environment Centre (Bailrigg) | Year 3 | Degree: Physical Geography
Are wind turbines weather changers? A quantitative study of wind turbine effects on meteorology.
The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of a wind turbine on local meteorology. With increases in global wind power being part of the move to low carbon electricity production, it is vital to understand the effects turbine wakes have on local meteorology, as well as large-scale effects. In 2012, Lancaster University built a wind turbine 150m from their existing Hazelrigg weather station. Due to the length of meteorological records available at Hazelrigg, a unique opportunity is provided to add to this important research. The turbine lies between the original Hazelrigg measurement site and a new additional site. Therefore, the difference between the sites was used to examine turbine effects. Circular statistics were used to analyse the size and significance of difference according to the direction of the turbine hub. Other variables which affect atmospheric characteristics were also used as criteria for tests. A potential cooling effect of up to 0.28°C was detected in the turbine wake. The cause of cooling may be the turbine, or another spatially variable characteristic. This cooling is different to that found by other research, highlighting the importance of fully understanding the effect of wind turbines in and on their local environment.
Anna Tillin
Lancaster Environment Centre (Bailrigg) | Year 3 | Degree: Physical Geography
Are wind turbines weather changers? A quantitative study of wind turbine effects on meteorology.
Methodology
Background
Results
Data from December 2012 to May 2020 were used to investigate the effects of the wind turbine. This data needed checking for quality before it could be analysed. This flow chart shows the process followed. Matlab was used to analyse the data.
- Each 10 minute period was categorised by wind direction.
- The difference between temperature at sites A and B was calculated.
- Median difference and Median Absolute Deviation was calculated for each wind sector (16 sectors were used).
- The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for distribution differences was used to test the significance of differences between temperature recorded at the two sites.
Data were also categorised by season, time of day, consistency of wind direction, and rotor speed. The same tests were carried out.
In most cases, site A was cooler than site B. This difference was significant for wind directions from SSW to WNW.
Time of day and season had an effect on the temperature difference between sites A and B.
Bigger differences were found in the daytime than the nighttime.
The biggest differences were in the Summer (JJA), followed by Autumn (SON). The smallest differences were in the Spring (MAM). The difference was less variable in the Winter (DJF).
The daytime results are to the left, and night-time results are below.
Differences were also found between the two sites before the turbine was present.
These differences could be due to
- Natural spatial variation in weather patterns
- An influence of the university campus
- Other landscape effects
What Does This Mean?
Commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures mean that many more wind turbines and wind farms are being built across the world. It is important to understand the effects these turbines have on their surroundings.
Models have predicted that surface air temperature in the turbine wake will decrease in the daytime and increase in the night-time (e.g. Baidya Roy et al., 2010).
Some studies of large wind farms have found these effects to be true (e.g. Zhou et al., 2012). However, others have found no effect or the opposite effect to predictions (e.g. Moravec et al., 2018; Harris et al., 2014). More research is needed to fully understand the effects of turbines on surface air temperature.
Lancaster University built a wind turbine in 2012. This turbine supplies up to 17% of the university's electricity.
The turbine is built between the two measurement sites of Hazelrigg Meteorological Station. Site A is to the east of the turbine, and site B is to the north west.
This provides an great opportunity to investigate the effects of the wind turbine on surface air temperature, as there is data over quite a long period of time.
The Question: Does the LU wind turbine affect temperature at the weather station sites? How?
The turbine may have a cooling effect in its wake, during both daytime and night-time. This is different to the predictions of models. There is uncertainty about the results:
- The effect is not seen at site B.
- There is a limited amount of data from before the turbine is installed, so comparison is difficult.
- It is likely that other factors have an influence, so some or all of the effect may be due to a different cause.
References
Baidya Roy, S., Traiteur, J. and Schneider, S. (2010) Impacts of wind turbines on air surface temperatures. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 17899-17904. 10.1073/pnas.1000493107.
Moravec, D., Bartak, V., Pus, V. and Wild, J. (2018) Wind turbine impact on near-ground air temperature. Renewable Energy, 123, 627-633. 10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.091.
Zhou, L., Tian, Y., Baidya Roy, S., Thorncroft, C., Bosart, L. and Hu, Y. (2012) Impacts of wind farms on land surface temperature. Nature Climate Change, 2, 539-543. 10.1038/NCLIMATE1505.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Dr Wlodek Tych for his assistance with this project.
Photo from stephenson-halliday.com
CloseCanvas height (pixels)
Background colour
Background image (max: 2mb)
CloseEmail
Website address
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Profile image
Close
Slide 1 image (max 2mb)
Slide 1 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 1 Caption
Slide 2 image (max 2mb)
Slide 2 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 2 Caption
Slide 3 image (max 2mb)
Slide 3 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 3 Caption
Slide 4 image (max 2mb)
Slide 4 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 4 Caption
Slide 5 image (max 2mb)
Slide 5 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 5 Caption
Slide 6 image (max 2mb)
Slide 6 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 6 Caption
Slide 7 image (max 2mb)
Slide 7 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 7 Caption
Slide 8 image (max 2mb)
Slide 8 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 8 Caption
Slide 9 image (max 2mb)
Slide 9 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 9 Caption
Slide 10 image (max 2mb)
Slide 20 video (YouTube/Vimeo embed code)
Image 10 Caption
Caption font
Text
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)
CloseImage (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Image description/alt-tag
Image caption
Image link
Rollover Image (max size: 2mb)
Or drag a symbol into the upload area
Border colour
Rotate
Skew (x-axis)
Skew (y-axis)