PNNL

Abstract

As energy demand increases, the need to reach beyond traditional hydrocarbon-based sources of power is becoming ever more clear, in tandem with a compelling need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Despite significant wind resources, the U.S. currently obtains about one percent of its electric power from wind generation. A recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory NREL), and the American Wind Energy Association demonstrated the technical feasibility of expanding the U.S. wind industry to meet 20% of U.S. electric power needs by 2030 (U.S. DOE 2008). Many of the challenges associated with a substantial increase in the use of wind energy reflect fundamental gaps that remain in our knowledge of both atmospheric flow and the interaction of that flow with turbines. To better define these gaps, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) convened a workshop on Research Needs for Wind Resource Characterization in Broomfield, Colorado, during January 14–16, 2008. The workshop was organized jointly by DOE’s Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The purposes of the workshop were to assess the current state-of-science related to wind power production and to define fruitful directions for research. More than 120 international participants, representing national laboratories, academia, and the wind energy industry, attended the workshop. The workshop focused on four potential research areas ordered by the scale of associated atmospheric phenomena: 1) turbine dynamics, 2) micrositing and array effects, 3) mesoscale processes, and (4) climate effects. The structure of the workshop involved a plenary speaker to review each of these areas followed by a discussion of each area by all participants. Based on this discussion, participants then generated recommendations for research in each of the areas. The remainder of this report summarizes the reviews provided by each of the plenary speakers and the research recommendations produced by the workshop.