Results for “Wind Direction” — Page 48

DOE OSTI2024

Survey of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Developers Report [Slides]

In 2023, Berkeley Lab conducted the first of its kind survey of industry professionals with direct experience working in community engagement and permitting of land-based, utility-scale wind and solar energy facilities in the U.S. The survey solicited information about project timelines over the last five years, leading causes of project delays and cancelations, community opposition, experience with permitting authorities, community engagement, comparisons between wind and solar, and other related topics. A total of 123 individuals responded to the survey for a response rate of 19.2%. Respondents were employed at 62 unique companies, which together are responsible for approximately half of the wind and solar developed from 2016 to 2023.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Long-term uncertainty quantification in WRF-modeled offshore wind resource off the US Atlantic coast

Uncertainty quantification of long-term modeled wind speed is essential to ensure stakeholders can best leverage wind resource numerical data sets. Offshore, this need is even stronger given the limited availability of observations of wind speed at heights relevant for wind energy purposes and the resulting heavier relative weight of numerical data sets for wind energy planning and operational projects. In this analysis, we consider the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 21-year updated numerical offshore data set for the US East Coast and provide a methodological framework to leverage both floating lidar and near-surface buoy observations in the region to quantify uncertainty in the modeled hub-height wind resource. We first show how using a numerical ensemble to quantify the uncertainty in modeled wind speed is insufficient to fully capture the model deviation from real-world observations. Next, we train and validate a random forest to vertically extrapolate near-surface wind speed to hub height using the available short-term lidar data sets in the region. We then apply this model to vertically extrapolate the long-term near-surface buoy wind speed observations to hub height so that they can be directly compared to the long-term numerical data set. We find that the mean 21-year uncertainty in 140 m hourly average wind speed is slightly lower than 3 m s -1 (roughly 30m% of the mean observed wind speed) across the considered region. Atmospheric stability is strictly connected to the modeled wind speed uncertainty, with stable conditions associated with an uncertainty which is, on average, about 20 % larger than the overall mean uncertainty.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Variability of Power from Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Scenarios in the State of Gujarat (Presentation)

India has ambitious goals for high utilization of variable renewable power from wind and solar, and deployment has been proceeding at a rapid pace. The western state of Gujarat currently has the largest amount of solar generation of any Indian state, with over 855 Megawatts direct current (MWDC). Combined with over 3,240 MW of wind, variable generation renewables comprise nearly 18% of the electric-generating capacity in the state. A new historic 10-kilometer (km) gridded solar radiation data set capturing hourly insolation values for 2002-2011 is available for India. We apply an established method for downscaling hourly irradiance data to one-minute irradiance data at potential PV power production locations for one year, 2006. The objective of this report is to characterize the intra-hour variability of existing and planned photovoltaic solar power generation in the state of Gujarat (a total of 1.9 gigawatts direct current (GWDC)), and of five possible expansion scenarios of solar generation that reflect a range of geographic diversity (each scenario totals 500-1,000 MW of additional solar capacity). The report statistically analyzes one year's worth of power variability data, applied to both the baseline and expansion scenarios, to evaluate diurnal and seasonal power fluctuations, different timescales of variability (e.g., from one to 15 minutes), the magnitude of variability (both total megawatts and relative to installed solar capacity), and the extent to which the variability can be anticipated in advance. The paper also examines how Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) and the Gujarat State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) could make use of the solar variability profiles in grid operations and planning.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Variability of Power from Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Scenarios in the State of Gujarat: Preprint

India has ambitious goals for high utilization of variable renewable power from wind and solar, and deployment has been proceeding at a rapid pace. The western state of Gujarat currently has the largest amount of solar generation of any Indian state, with over 855 Megawatts direct current (MWDC). Combined with over 3,240 MW of wind, variable generation renewables comprise nearly 18% of the electric-generating capacity in the state. A new historic 10-kilometer (km) gridded solar radiation data set capturing hourly insolation values for 2002-2011 is available for India. We apply an established method for downscaling hourly irradiance data to one-minute irradiance data at potential PV power production locations for one year, 2006. The objective of this report is to characterize the intra-hour variability of existing and planned photovoltaic solar power generation in the state of Gujarat (a total of 1.9 gigawatts direct current (GWDC)), and of five possible expansion scenarios of solar generation that reflect a range of geographic diversity (each scenario totals 500-1,000 MW of additional solar capacity). The report statistically analyzes one year's worth of power variability data, applied to both the baseline and expansion scenarios, to evaluate diurnal and seasonal power fluctuations, different timescales of variability (e.g., from one to 15 minutes), the magnitude of variability (both total megawatts and relative to installed solar capacity), and the extent to which the variability can be anticipated in advance. The paper also examines how Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) and the Gujarat State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) could make use of the solar variability profiles in grid operations and planning.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Variability of Photovoltaic Power in the State of Gujarat Using High Resolution Solar Data

India has ambitious goals for high utilization of variable renewable power from wind and solar, and deployment has been proceeding at a rapid pace. The western state of Gujarat currently has the largest amount of solar generation of any Indian state, with over 855 Megawatts direct current (MWDC). Combined with over 3,240 MW of wind, variable generation renewables comprise nearly 18% of the electric-generating capacity in the state. A new historic 10-kilometer (km) gridded solar radiation data set capturing hourly insolation values for 2002-2011 is available for India. We apply an established method for downscaling hourly irradiance data to one-minute irradiance data at potential PV power production locations for one year, 2006. The objective of this report is to characterize the intra-hour variability of existing and planned photovoltaic solar power generation in the state of Gujarat (a total of 1.9 gigawatts direct current (GWDC)), and of five possible expansion scenarios of solar generation that reflect a range of geographic diversity (each scenario totals 500-1,000 MW of additional solar capacity). The report statistically analyzes one year's worth of power variability data, applied to both the baseline and expansion scenarios, to evaluate diurnal and seasonal power fluctuations, different timescales of variability (e.g., from one to 15 minutes), the magnitude of variability (both total megawatts and relative to installed solar capacity), and the extent to which the variability can be anticipated in advance. The paper also examines how Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) and the Gujarat State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) could make use of the solar variability profiles in grid operations and planning.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Artificial Intelligence-Aided Wind Plant Optimization for Nationwide Evaluation of Land Use and Economic Benefits of Wake Steering

If clean energy pathways are to harness massive increases in wind power, innovations with broad geographic viability will be needed to support buildout in diverse locations. However, geodiversity in impact potential is seldom captured in technology assessment. Here we propose a scalable approach to plant-level optimization using artificial intelligence to evaluate land sparing and economic benefits of wake steering at more than 6,800 plausible onshore wind locations in the USA. This emerging controls strategy optimizes plant energy production by directing turbine wakes. On the basis of estimates from our artificial intelligence model trained on engineering wind flow simulations, co-optimizing plant layouts with wake steering can reduce land requirements by an average of 18% per plant (site-specific benefits range from 2% to 34%), subject to errors and uncertainties in the flow model, wind resource estimates, buildout scenario and geographic factors. According to model estimates, wake steering is predicted to increase power production during high-value (relatively low wind) periods, boosting the annual revenue of individual plants by up to US$3.7 million (equivalent to US$13,000 MW-1 yr-1) but producing negligible gains in some settings. Consideration of wake steering’s geographic potential reveals divergent nationwide prospects for improved economics and siting flexibility.

deployment↗

DOE OSTI2017

Measure the Propagation of a Halo CME and Its Driven Shock with the Observations from a Single Perspective at Earth

We present a detailed study of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (full-halo CME) event that happened on 2011 February 15, making use of white-light observations by three coronagraphs and radio observations by Wind /WAVES. We applied three different methods to reconstruct the propagation direction and traveling distance of the CME and its driven shock. We measured the kinematics of the CME leading edge from white-light images observed by Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory ( STEREO ) A and B , tracked the CME-driven shock using the frequency drift observed by Wind /WAVES together with an interplanetary density model, and obtained the equivalent scattering centers of the CME by the polarization ratio (PR) method. For the first time, we applied the PR method to different features distinguished from LASCO/C2 polarimetric observations and calculated their projections onto white-light images observed by STEREO-A and STEREO-B . By combining the graduated cylindrical shell (GCS) forward modeling with the PR method, we proposed a new GCS-PR method to derive 3D parameters of a CME observed from a single perspective at Earth. Comparisons between different methods show a good degree of consistence in the derived 3D results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The effect of drift on the evolution of the electron/positron spectra in an axisymmetric pulsar wind nebula

Charged particles propagating through a structured magnetic field are subject to drift motion. The primary aim of the present paper is therefore to investigate the effects of gradient, curvature, and neutral sheet drift on the evolution of the electron and positron spectra in a pulsar wind nebula, where the drift motion is a direct result of the magnetic field having an Archimedean spiral structure. In order to investigate the evolution of the spectra, the steady-state, axisymmetric Fokker-Planck transport equation is solved numerically using a finite-difference scheme. Apart from drift motion, the transport processes of convection and diffusion, along with the energy loss processes of adiabatic cooling and synchrotron radiation, are also included in the model. It is found that drift, particularly neutral sheet drift, can lead to a quantitative difference in the evolution of the electron and positron spectra. This difference may be of importance when interpreting the positron excess observed by PAMELA and AMS-02 near Earth.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Nonlinear and linear timescales near kinetic scales in solar wind turbulence

The application of linear kinetic treatments to plasma waves, damping, and instability requires favorable inequalities between the associated linear timescales and timescales for nonlinear (e.g., turbulence) evolution. In the solar wind these two types of timescales may be directly compared using standard Kolmogorov-style analysis and observational data. The estimated local (in scale) nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic cascade times, evaluated as relevant kinetic scales are approached, remain slower than the cyclotron period, but comparable to or faster than the typical timescales of instabilities, anisotropic waves, and wave damping. The variation with length scale of the turbulence timescales is supported by observations and simulations. On this basis the use of linear theory—which assumes constant parameters to calculate the associated kinetic rates—may be questioned. It is suggested that the product of proton gyrofrequency and nonlinear time at the ion gyroscales provides a simple measure of turbulence influence on proton kinetic behavior.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Barge Site - Avian Radar System / Derived Data

This is a combined data set of 67,410 bird/bat tracks from an avian radar system deployed on a research barge (MERLIN True3D, DeTect, Panama City, Florida, USA) and concurrent wind measurements from two scanning lidars (WindCube v2.1, Vaisala, Vantaa, Finland, and Halo XR+, Halo Photonics, Lannion, France). The research barge (16.5 m x 61 m) was deployed as part of the Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP-3) off the northeast coast of the United States south of Massachusetts (40.9 deg N, 70.79 deg W). This data set comprises 5 weeks of data between August 27th 2024 and September 27th 2024. Radar data were provided by DeTect and Lidar data were accessed through the Wind Data Hub (wfip3/barg.WINDPROF.z01.a0) The data have been filtered and sorted into two size groups ("big" and "small") based on a clustering approach. See Snortland, A., Clerc, J., Hein, C., & Cotter, E. (2025). Wind as Driver of Bird and Bat Abundance, Flight Direction, Altitude, and Speed on the North Atlantic Shelf. arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.14983 for complete details. Data are provided in 2 files: "Birds" and "Birds_hourly" Birds: This file contains information about each of the 67,410 flying animal tracks detected by the radar during the data collection period, including parameters measured by the radar and wind information interpolated from the lidar wind measurements. We note that the raw radar dataset contained 301,618 tracks; tracks in this processed dataset were filtered based on the requirements described in Snortland et al. (2025). Birds_hourly: This file contains timeseries of the number of tracks detected per hour over the course of the data collection period, including wind conditions and sun position for each hour. These data were used for generalized additive modeling in Snortland et al. (2025).

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Is EIA part of the wind power planning problem?

This research evaluates the importance and effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) within wind farm planning debates, drawing on insights from case studies in Scotland. Despite general public support for renewable energy on the grounds that it is needed to tackle climate change and implement sustainable development, many proposed wind farms encounter significant resistance. The importance of planning issues and (EIA) processes has arguably been overlooked within recent wind farm social acceptability discourse. Through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and textual analysis of EIA documents, the characteristics of EIA are assessed in terms of its perceived purpose and performance. The data show that whilst respondents perceive EIA to be important, they express concerns about bias and about the inability of EIA to address climate change and wind farm decommissioning issues adequately. Furthermore, the research identifies key issues which impede the effectiveness of EIA, and reveals differences between theoretical and practical framings of EIA. The paper questions the assumption that EIA is a universally applicable tool, and argues that its effectiveness should be analysed in the context of specific development sectors. The article concludes by reviewing whether the recently amended EIA Directive (2014/52/EU) could resolve identified problems within national EIA practice. - Highlights: • Evaluation of EIA for onshore wind farm planning in Scotland. • EIA is important for multiple aspects of onshore wind farm planning. • Multiple substantive deficiencies of relevance to wind farm planning exist in EIA. • Further research into EIA effectiveness for specific development types is required. • Directive 2014/52/EU may improve EIA effectiveness within wind farm planning.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Coastal Wind and Turbulence Observations during the Morning and Evening Transitions over Tropical Terrain

Abstract Data collected during a multiyear, wind-resource assessment over a multi-land-use coastal environment in Belize are used to study the development and decay of wind and turbulence through the morning and evening transitions. Observations were made on three tall masts, forming an inland transect of approximately 5 km. The wind distribution is found to be bimodal and governed by synoptic scales, with onshore and offshore flow regimes. The behavior between the coastal and inland sites is found to be very similar when the flow is directed offshore; for onshore flow, stark differences occur. The mean wind speed at the coastal site is approximately 20% greater than the most inland site and is nearly constant throughout the diurnal cycle. For both flow regimes, the influence of the land–sea breeze circulation is inconsequential relative to the large-scale synoptic forcing. Composite time series are used to study the evolution of sensible heat flux and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) throughout the morning and evening transitions. The TKE budget reveals that at the coastal site mechanical production of TKE is much more important than buoyant production. This allows for the unexpected case in which TKE increases through the ET despite the decrease of buoyant TKE production. Multiresolution flux decomposition is used to further study this phenomenon as well as the evolution of the sensible heat flux at differing time scales. An idealized schematic is presented to illustrate the timing and structure of the morning and evening transitions for an inland site and a coastal site that are subjected to similar synoptic forcing.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2018

Wind load analysis of a new linear Fresnel receiver assembly design

A linear Fresnel collector includes a low-profile reflector array and a receiver assembly with one or more absorber tubes and an optional secondary reflector. This combined optical system concentrates sunlight and converts it into thermal energy. The design of a receiver assembly is critical to the performance of a linear Fresnel collector. A position deviation of a few centimeters for the receiver assembly can result in notably reduced performance, thus leading to a direct loss in revenue associated with thermal power production. Wind load is one of the most significant environmental factors that can alter the optical - and therefore thermal - performance of a solar power system due to displacements after installation. At the same time, an over-designed receiver assembly may add unnecessary construction cost to a typically high-cost-constrained system. Thus, wind load analysis is particularly important when considering optimal engineering design of a receiver assembly and its supporting structure to cost-effectively mitigate the impacts of wind. In this study, a detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is adopted to derive the wind load of a commercial linear Fresnel receiver assembly. This wind load is then used as a reference to optimize the detailed engineering design. The CFD model is first carefully developed and benchmarked within a critical regime toward turbulence. The drag force, lift force, and vortex-shedding frequencies are derived at both the operating and survival wind-speed limits for target project deployment locations. The wind load analysis results provide a valuable reference for future engineering design and prototyping.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Climatology and Evolution of the Antarctic Peninsula Föhn Wind-Induced Melt Regime From 1979–2018

Warm and dry föhn winds on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) cause surface melt that can destabilize vulnerable ice shelves. Topographic funneling of these downslope winds through mountain passes and canyons can produce localized wind-induced melt that is difficult to quantify without direct measurements. Our Föhn Detection Algorithm (FöhnDA) identifies the surface föhn signature that causes melt from measurement by 12 Automatic Weather Stations on the AP, that train a machine learning model to detect föhn in 5 km Regional Atmospheric Climate Model 2 (RACMO2.3p2) simulations and in the ERA5 reanalysis model. We estimate the fraction of AP surface melt attributed to föhn and possibly katabatic winds and identify the drivers of melt, temporal variability, and long-term trends and evolution from 1979–2018. We find that föhn wind-induced melt accounts for 3.1% of the total melt on the AP and can be as high at 18% close to the mountains where the winds funnel through mountain canyons. Föhn-induced surface melt does not significantly increase from 1979–2018, despite a warmer atmosphere and more positive Southern Annular Mode. However, a significant increase (+0.1 Gt y-1) and subsequent decrease/stabilization occur in 1979–1998 and 1999–2018, consistent with the AP warming and cooling trends during the same time periods. Föhn occurrence, more than föhn strength, drives the annual variability in föhn-induced melt. Long-term föhn-induced melt trends and evolution are attributable to seasonal changes in föhn occurrence, with increased occurrence in summer, and decreased occurrence in fall, winter, and early spring over the past 20 years.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Habitat fragmentation alters the distance of abiotic seed dispersal through edge effects and direction of dispersal

Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of species declines, driven in part by reduced dispersal. Isolating the effects of fragmentation on dispersal, however, is daunting because the consequences of fragmentation are typically intertwined, such as reduced connectivity and increased prevalence of edge effects. We used a large-scale landscape experiment to separate consequences of fragmentation on seed dispersal, considering both distance and direction of local dispersal. We evaluated seed dispersal for five wind- or gravity-dispersed, herbaceous plant species that were planted at different distances from habitat edges, within fragments that varied in their connectivity and shape (edge-to-area ratio). Dispersal distance was affected by proximity and direction relative to the nearest edge. For four of five species, dispersal distances were greater further from habitat edges and when seeds dispersed in the direction of the nearest edge. Connectivity and patch edge-to-area ratio had minimal effects on local dispersal. Here our findings illustrate how some, but not all, landscape changes associated with fragmentation can affect the key population process of seed dispersal.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) Research: Controls

Advanced Turbine Control for Distributed Wind Deployments: The Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) research initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office and led by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia). The initiative’s controls research seeks to expand the benefits from distributed wind energy assets beyond solely providing low-cost power directly to consumers. To make these turbines operate more effectively, there is a need for more advanced ways to control them—allowing power companies, businesses, and energy consumers to take advantage of some of the unique technical characteristics of wind energy.

wind, Microgrids, Infrastructure, Resilience, Adva↗

DOE OSTI2017

OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH FAST FIBER-OPTIC BEAM LOSS MONITORS FOR THE ADVANCED PHOTON SOURCE STORAGE RING SUPERCONDUCTING UNDULATORS

Fast fiber-optic (FFO) beam loss monitors (BLMs) installed with the first two superconducting undulators (SCUs) in the Advanced Photon Source storage ring have proven to be a useful diagnostic for measuring deposited charge (energy) during rapid beam loss events. The first set of FFOBLMs were installed outside the cryostat of the short SCU, a 0.33-m long device, above and below the beam centerline. The second set are mounted with the first 1.1-mlong SCU within the cryostat, on the outboard and inboard sides of the vacuum chamber. The next 1.1-m-long SCU is scheduled to replace the short SCU later in 2016 and will be fitted with FFOBLMs in a manner similar to original 1.1-m device. The FFOBLMs were employed to set timing and voltage for the abort kicker (AK) system. The AK helps to prevent quenching of the SCUs during beam dumps [1] by directing the beam away from the SC magnet windings. The AK is triggered by the Machine Protection System (MPS). In cases when the AK fails to prevent quenching, the FFOBLMs show that losses often begin before detection by the MPS.

Dooling, J.↗

DOE OSTI2016

RESOLVING GAS FLOWS IN THE ULTRALUMINOUS STARBURST IRAS 23365+3604 WITH KECK LGSAO/OSIRIS

Keck OSIRIS/LGSAO observations of the ultraluminous galaxy IRAS 23365+3604 resolve a circumnuclear bar (or irregular disk) of semimajor axis 0.″42 (520 pc) in Paα emission. The line-of-sight velocity of the ionized gas increases from the northeast toward the southwest; this gradient is perpendicular to the photometric major axis of the infrared emission. Two pairs of bends in the zero-velocity line are detected. The inner bend provides evidence for gas inflow onto the circumnuclear disk/bar structure. We interpret the gas kinematics on kiloparsec scales in relation to the molecular gas disk and multiphase outflow discovered previously. In particular, the fast component of the ouflow (detected previously in line wings) is not detected, adding support to the conjecture that the fast wind originates well beyond the nucleus. These data directly show the dynamics of gas inflow and outflow in the central kiloparsec of a late-stage, gas-rich merger and demonstrate the potential of integral field spectroscopy to improve our understanding of the role of gas flows during the growth phase of bulges and supermassive black holes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗