Wind turbines off the East Coast might significantly drain energy from each other, lowering the power output of an offshore farm by up to 38 percent, according to a new study that challenges early assumptions about the nascent industry’s electricity contribution.
The findings add to growing research about the “wake effect,” which is when offshore turbines in close proximity affect each other’s energy output.
Researchers from the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that entire wind farms can impede neighboring projects, decreasing the power production of adjacent farms by up to 15 percent under some conditions.
“It’s a wake-up call for the industry,” said Mike Optis, president of wind energy research firm Veer Renewables and one of the study’s authors. “Wake effects can drastically impact offshore wind power production, certainly more than we thought.”
