Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

‘Wake Effects’ Cost Downwind Wind Farm Millions in Reduced Electricity Production

Green Tech Media: Wind farms turn out not to be the best neighbors — for downwind wind farms.

A study published last month in Nature Energy found that wind speed reductions resulting from wake effects caused by an upwind wind farm reduced electricity generation at a downwind wind farm by 5 percent over a six-year period.

The researchers found that decreased electricity generation cost the downwind project owner an estimated $3.7 million in lost revenue from 2011-2015. Despite the potential for such significant losses for project owners, a search by the study authors found “no legal guidance for protecting existing wind farms from such significant impacts.”

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