Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Wake and performance interference between adjacent wind farms:

Case study of Xinjiang in China by means of mesoscale simulations
Qiang Wang, Kun Luo*, Renyu Yuan, Sanxia Zhang, Jianren Fan
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: To ameliorate the efficiency of wind farms, except assessing the wake effect between the wind turbines,
Received 19 July 2018 the wake interference between the wind farms must be considered. Based on the Weather Research and
Received in revised form Forecasting (WRF) model, the overall performance and power output characteristics, and wake inter-
26 September 2018
ference effects between the adjacent wind farms in Hami region of Xinjiang province under real terrain
Accepted 18 October 2018
and atmospheric conditions were investigated. The wind turbine drag parameterization (WTDP) scheme
Available online 19 October 2018
was elaborated. The results show that the wake of the whole field generally recovers at downstream
16.5 km under prevailing wind direction and annual average wind speed, and the frequency of power
Keywords:
Wind farm
output around the rated power is up to 30%. Moreover, the disturbance induced by the wake effect of a
Wind turbine drag parameterization large-scale wind farm on its downstream adjacent farm was quantitatively evaluated. Due to the impact
Mesoscale simulation of the upstream farm, the wake distance of the downstream wind farm is doubled. The influence on the
Wake interference power output presented a regularity of day-night alternation, with a higher frequency of great loss at
Power characteristics night, dawn and evening. The average relative loss ratio reached 5.8%. This study is expected to provide a
theoretical basis and engineering guidance for micrositing of wind farms.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to capture the optimized sites and power prediction. In addition, Hu

Wind energy is a renewable energy source with a great devel-
opment potential. In recent years, the development of wind power
industry has gradually stepped into a stage with large scale of wind
turbines and wind farms [1]. However, in order to build a more
efficient and large-scale wind farm, except assessing the wake ef-
fect of wind turbines within a wind farm, the interference effect
between wind farms and wind farms needs to be investigated. This
is also a challenging topic for wind industries.
The existing investigations on development and utilization of
wind energy were primarily focused on the prediction and
assessment of regional wind resources, and the wake effects or
operation property for the single/multiple wind turbines or an
entire wind farm. In order to explore these, the measured and
simulated approaches were applied. Ali et al. [2] and Liu et al. [3]
evaluated the wind resources in the target area based on the
measurements, and analyzed the wind energy development po-
tential using a Weibull function; other researchers [4e6] used the
long term observed data collected from several wind masts locally
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zjulk@zju.edu.cn (K. Luo).

-Agel et al. [8] conducted a preliminary analysis
et al. [7] and Porte
on the wake effect of the wind turbines over the complex terrain
and thermal boundary layer using the wind tunnel experiments.
However, it is difficult to capture the flow information about the
entire wind farm field, whether through the site measurements or
wind tunnel experiments.
The numerical method therefore can make up the deficiency,
and it can efficiently and conveniently simulate the flow natures of
the wind turbines or an entire wind farm. Currently, the studies on
wind turbines are mainly analyzed using the numerical method
combined with the measurements. The micro-scale numerical
studies on an isolated wind turbine or multiple turbines by
computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method are abundant. Initially,
the fully resolved rotor simulation, which resolves the boundary
layer attached to blades, is the most accurate method to achieve an
optimized design, as demonstrated by some reports [9,10]. But its
computational cost is really high. Then, as the simple and low cost
ways, actuator disk and actuator line methods, which were intro-
duced by Fejtek [11] and Sørensen [12], were widely applied by Liu
et al. [13] and Wu et al. [14,15]. Recently, an improved method
coupled the blade element momentum theory into the CFD is
proposed by Naderi et al. [16,17] that consider the variable thrust
coefficient in downstream rows in a wind farm and could

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.10.111
0360-5442/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180 1169

Nomenclature a inverse density

g ratio of the heat capacities for dry air
εР relative power deficit
Variables q potential temperature
A rotor area md dry air mass
CP power coefficient f geopotential
CT thrust coefficient
CTKE turbulence kinetic energy coefficient Abbreviations
D diameter of the turbine rotor ARW Advanced Research WRF
F forcing terms EE Electrical Energy
h height FDDA Four-Dimensional Data assimilation
p pressure IA Index of Agreement
P power output of wind turbine LT Local Time
R correlation coefficient MBE MeanBias Error
u covariant velocity MODIS Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroratiometer
Ucut-in cut-in wind speed for the turbine NCEP National Center for Environmental Prediction
Ucut-out cut-out wind speed for the turbine RKE Resolved kinetic energy
Uhub wind speed at the hub height RMSE Root Mean Square Error
Uno-WF local wind speed without wind turbine RRMSE Relative Root Mean Square Error
Urate nominal wind speed USGS United Sates Geological Survey
U three dimensional coupled vector velocity TKE Turbulence Kinetic Energy
Dx horizontal grid size in the zonal directions WRF Weather Research and Forecasting
Dy horizontal grid size in the meridional directions WTDP Wind Turbine Drag Parameterizaiton

accurately investigate the actual wake shape; thus this is really a
viable approach for designing and optimization of wind farms, in
particular for the absence of the thrust curve. All of the above
mentioned micro-scale techniques could gain insight into details of
the wake for the wind turbines, however, the research on the wake
flow property and the output performance of wind farms under the
real terrain and meteorological climate has been rarely reported.
Moreover, it is computationally expensive and time-consuming
when the large-scale wind farms are calculated.
Accordingly, as the development of the atmospheric science and
the computational technology, more researches have focused on
the numerical weather prediction (NWP) for simulation of the
large-scale wind farms, especially by means of the mesoscale
model, such as Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF). Research
results in wind resource forecasting are fruitful. Storm et al. [18],
Giannaros et al. [19], and Wang et al. [20] evaluated the perfor-
mance of the WRF model from different perspectives, proving that
this model could accurately predict the wind resource character-
istics of simulated regions. Zhao et al. [21,22] contributed to a new
wind speed forecasting model based on the WRF ensemble and
Cuckoo Search optimization algorithm, which could enhance the
forecasting accuracy and provide an enhanced operational wind
forecast for the actual wind farm. Hoolohan et al. [23] used a
Gaussian process regression scheme to modify the output data
extracted from the original NWP model, indicating that the hybrid
method is a way to improve the wind speed forecasting. Based on
the usage of the NWP approach, furthermore, a wind farm
parameterization scheme coupled into the framework of WRF
model was proposed by Fitch et al. [24], which was an efficient way
to perform the mesoscale numerical simulation for assessing the
performance of the large scale wind farms; then, one study related
to the influence of wind farm on local and regional atmospheric
boundary layer during the daytime and night-time using the wind
farms parameterization was reported [25]. After that, Jime
nez et al.
[26] used the model to reproduce the power reduction and wake
deficit for an ideal offshore wind farm at Horns Rev with a high
horizontal resolution, firstly demonstrating that the mesoscale
model is a suitable framework to analyze the wake flow within the
offshore wind farm. Yuan et al. [27] obtained the flow and power
characteristics of an actual onshore wind farm for the first time at a
horizontal resolution of 200 m and validated by the measured re-
sults, indicating that this method is capable of wind farm operation
assessment for onshore wind farms.
For the majority of literature, the studies were focused on either
the assessment of wind resources in a regional wind farm or the
prediction of the wake effects for the single/multiple wind turbines.
In fact, in the process of wind farm planning, the interference be-
tween wind farms is one of the key factors to be considered.
However, due to the challenge of the computational cost and
simulated techniques, the research towards the wake effects and
power output interference between the adjacent farms over com-
plex terrain under real weather conditions have rarely been re-
ported. Therefore, this is an urgency to be solved for the wind
energy usage.
The present study is aimed at exploring the suitable mesoscale
numerical method coupled with wind farm parameterization
model, and studying two adjacent large-scale wind farms in the
Hami region of Xinjiang, China, including their wake nature, power
output characteristics and interference effects, such as the wake
recovery and power output. The governing equations, wind turbine
drag parameterization and mesoscale simulation details are sepa-
rately presented in Section 2. Then section 3 verifies the perfor-
mance of the mesoscale numerical method by the observation data
collected from the local wind masts. Further, the wake and power
output of the whole wind farm under typical wind conditions and
the interference between the adjacent large-scale farms are quan-
titatively analyzed in Section 4. In the end, the conclusions are
presented in Section 5, which are expected to provide a theoretical
basis and engineering guidance for the large-scale wind farm
construction and development.
2. Methodology
2.1. Governing equations in ARW
The WRF modeling system software, version-3.7.1, was used to
1170 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180

evaluate the performance and wake interference between the the TKE friction CTKE can be calculated by subtracting CP from CT.
adjacent wind farms. The Advanced Research WRF (ARW) dynamic Fig. 1 displays the schematic diagram of the WTDP.
solver is a state-of-the-art atmospheric simulation system, which It is worth emphasizing that the horizontal grid spacing (Dx or
can conduct simulations of wind farms based on the actual atmo- Dy) may be greater than the dimension of one wind turbine in the
spheric conditions [28]. It integrates the fully compressible and mesoscale model while the vertical profile of the wind speed is
non-hydrostatic Euler equations based on the conservative scalar generally non-uniform, thus the wind turbines should be resolved
variables using a terrain-following mass vertical coordinate. The in the vertical direction by integrating the drag force at each layer of
mass vertical coordinate is expressed by: cross-sectional rotor area. It is supposed that the rotor of each wind
turbine in the wind farms is normal to the inflow and the tower
h ¼ ðpdh  pdht Þ=md (1) shadow deficit is ignored. The comprehensive documents could be
obtained in the study of Fitch et al. [24]. For brevity, the equations
where md stands for the dry air mass, calculated by md ¼ pdhs - pdht; and the corresponding descriptions for the WTDP scheme are
and pdh stands for the hydrostatic pressure of the dry atmosphere, summarized in Table 1.
pdhs refers to the values along the surface and pdht refers to the ARW solver is expected to read the input files about WTDP
values at the top boundaries, respectively. Because m(x, y) repre- scheme [29]. It contains the location and type of each turbine and
sents the mass per unit area within the model domain at (x, y), the some real parameters specifying the properties of the turbine (i.e.,
variables in flux form are formulated by: hub-height, diameter of the rotor, standing thrust coefficient, and
nominal power). In addition, a table of the thrust coefficient and the
U ¼ md u ¼ ðU; V; WÞ; U ¼ md u; Q ¼ md q (2)
power curve should be incorporated into this scheme. Details of
these parameters will be introduced in the next section.
where u ¼ (u, v, w) represent the covariant velocities in the hori-
zontal and vertical directions; u represents the contravariant ver-
tical velocity; and q represents the potential temperature. 2.3. Mesoscale simulation details
To construct the conserved difference scheme and the energy
conversion relation in atmosphere, the governing equations for 2.3.1. Study area
ARW are formulated in flux forms as: The study sites were two adjacent large-scale wind farms,
respectively termed JIALI_01 and JIALI_02, located in the suburb of
8
> vt U þ ðV$UuÞ þ md avx p þ ða=ad Þvh pvx f ¼ FU Hami City, in eastern Xinjiang province of China. Fig. 2 illustrates
>
>
> vt V þ ðV$UvÞ þ md avy p þ ða=ad Þvh pv
>  y f ¼ FV the relative position and terrain of the wind farms. The geographic
>
>
< vt W þ ðV$UwÞ  g ða=ad Þvh p  md ¼ FW
> coordinate for JIALI_01 is near 9141055''E and 43190 11''N with the
vt Q þ ðV$UqÞ ¼ FQ (3) elevation of 862e1012 m; while for JIALI_02 is near 9141055''E and
>
>
> vt md þ ðV$UÞ ¼ 0
> 43190 12''N with the elevation of 859e943 m. The terrain is un-
>
> 1
> vt f þ md ½ðU$VfÞ  gW ¼ 0
>
: dulating and flat. Hami has a typical temperate continental arid
vt Qm þ ðV$Uqm Þ ¼ FQm climate and the annual average temperature of 9.8  C [30].
To facilitate the following description, the wind farms in the
Eq. (3) formulates the forces arising from model physics (FU),
study area are divided into four regions, i.e., JIALI_01-No. I, JIALI_01-
turbulent mixing (FV), spherical projections (FW), and the rotation
No. II, JIALI_02-No. I, and JIALI_02-No. II. JIALI_02 situated in the
of Earth (FQ) are formulated. Furthermore, the diagnostic equation
south of JIALI_01 with a distance of 1.8 km. A total of 66 wind
for dry inverse density and its relation to the full pressure are:
turbines with a rated capacity of 1.5 MW were installed in JIALI_01,
vh f ¼ ad md (4) and their locations were regular and linear slightly. Thirty-three

p ¼ p0 ðRd qm =p0 ad Þg (5)

P
where f ¼ gz is the geopotential; a ¼ ad (1þ qi)1 is the inverse
P
density; ad is the inverse density of dry air and qi is the sum of the
different mixing ratios. Here, Qm ¼ md qm, where qm is equal to one
of the mixing ratios. And, the diagnostic equation for dry inverse
density is vh ¼ admd. Moreover, p0 is the reference pressure, Rd is
the gas constant for dry air, and g is the ratio of the heat capacities
for dry air.

2.2. Wind turbine drag parameterization

To reproduce the impact of the wind farms on atmosphere

boundary layer (ABL), the wind turbine drag parameterization
(WTDP) method using elevated sinks of momentum and sources of
turbulent is applied to the present study. This method is proposed
by Fitch et al. [24], which is suitable for the mesoscale models. For
simplicity, this method assumed the total energy captured by the
wind turbines from the ABL, termed resolved kinetic energy (RKE),
is partially converted into electrical energy (EE) and the rest is
dissipated into the airflow, which is converted into the turbulent
kinetic energy (TKE). Meanwhile, the RKE is represented by the
thrust coefficient CT, which is provided by the turbine manufac-
turer; the EE is characterized by the power coefficient CP; and then Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the WTDP scheme.
 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180 1171

Table 1
Equations and the corresponding descriptions for WTDP scheme.

Equation Description
ijk
vKEdrag The KE loss rate due to wind turbines in the grid cell (i, j, k), where |U|ijk is the velocity magnitude, (6)
1
¼  DxDyCT rijk jUj3ijk Aijk CT is the thrust coefficient at corresponding wind speed, Aijk is the cross-sectional rotor area of one
vt 2
turbine bounded by model level k and kþ1 in the grid cell.
ijk
vKEcell vjUjijk The KE change rate of the ABL within the grid cell (i, j, k), where zkþ1 and zk represent the lower (7)
¼ rijk jUjijk ðzkþ1  zk ÞDxDy and upper level heights of the grid cell with vertical index k.
vt vt
vjUjijk 2
1 CT jUjijk Aijk The momentum tendency term. This term could be obtained by equating Eq. (6) and Eq. (7). (8)
¼ 
vt 2 ðzkþ1  zk Þ
vPijk
3
1 CP jUjijk Aijk Electrical power produced by the area of Aijk in the grid cell. (9)
¼ 
vt 2 ðzkþ1  zk Þ
vTKEijk
3
1 CTKE jUjijk Aijk TKE generated by the area of Aijk in the grid cell. (10)
¼ 
vt 2 ðzkþ1  zk Þ
PPPktop 1 Total electrical power for all wind farms, where ktop and kbot are the top and bottom levels (11)
P ¼ C jUj3ijk Aijk
kbot 2 P
i j of the turbine rotor.
PPPktop 1 Total TKE generated by all wind farms. (12)
TKE ¼ C jUj3ijk Aijk
kbot 2 TKE
i j

Fig. 2. Positions of the wind farms and topography. Fig. 3. Layout of the two wind farms and their capacity.

wind turbines with the same capacity were sited in JIALI_02, while
the layout is slightly irregular. In addition, all wind turbines were
numbered for in-depth analysis. Details are presented in Fig. 3,
including the layouts and information of each wind farms.
In order to integrate the WTDP scheme into the mesoscale nu-
merical model, the basic physical parameters, wind power curve
and thrust coefficient curve of wind turbines are needed. This can
be obtained from the wind farm manufacturers. For instance, the
wind turbines for JIALI_01 and JIALI_02 have the same rated power
of Prate ¼ 1.5 MW, the diameter of the rotor is D ¼ 66 m, and the hub
height is hhub ¼ 65 m. The rated wind speed of the wind turbine is
Urate ¼ 13.7 m/s, and the cut-in and cut-out wind speed are Ucut-
in ¼ 3 m/s and Ucut-out ¼ 27 m/s, respectively. Due to the specific
aerodynamic characteristics of the two turbines, the power curve
and thrust coefficient curve of them in each wind farm present a
slight difference at the cut-in wind speed, as shown in Fig. 4.
Furthermore, on the basis of above values, the WTDP can be con- Fig. 4. Curves of thrust coefficient and power output for each wind farm.
structed by loading this as the input file for the framework of the
mesoscale numerical model.
1172 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180
Fig. 5. The probability distribution of wind speed and wind rose at the hub height.
Fig. 6. Turbulence intensity measured at the hub height.
2.3.2. Observation data
A statistical analysis of the 2016 wind resource data in the wind
farm site area shows that the observations in the period from 21st
Jun to 29th Jun 2016 were typical and could better represent the
wind resource nature in summer in Hami, Xinjiang province.
Therefore, the present study selected this time period as the
starting and ending time for the simulations. Fig. 5 displays the
probability distribution of the wind speed and the wind rose at the
hub height.
It can be seen that the wind resource in the wind farms during
the simulated period exhibits the high wind speed characteristics
with double peaks. It is the greatest proportion in the range of
7.5e13.5 m/s, accounting for more than 65%. On the contrary, the
wind speed below 7.5 m/s and higher than 13.5 m/s account for 7.2%
and 27.1%, respectively. The average wind speed at hub height is
12.8 m/s. Meanwhile, through the Normal-Weibull mixture distri-
bution fitting [18], the double peaks appear in the range of
8.5e11.5 m/s and 15.5e16.5 m/s. Moreover, the prevailing wind
direction is NNW, accounting for 35.42% of the total wind vectors;
and the secondary prevailing wind direction is NW, accounting for
22.08% of the total. In addition, according to the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 61400-12 [19], the
Table 2
Major physics configurations for WRF model.
Physics Scheme options
Microphysics WSM-6
Long wave Radiation RRTM
Short wave Radiation Goddard
wind farm should usually not be exposed to the airflow with the
turbulence intensity greater than 0.25. Herein, Fig. 6 shows the
time series distribution of turbulence intensity in the wind field.
It is random and pulsating for the temporal distribution of the
turbulence intensity, however, an apparently diurnal alternation is
captured during this simulated period. For example, the peaks al-
ways appear before the dawn and after the sunset. Scrutinizing the
turbulence intensity distribution, it rarely reached peaks with the
values of 0.51 and 0.67, respectively, during 1200e1510 on 23rd Jun
and 1200 to 1800 on 27th Jun. It can be seen that the wind resource
nature in this area has a great potential for wind energy utilization.
Significantly, the mesoscale numerical study of the operational
behaviors of the two wind farms and the interference effect in the
field area need to be carried out.
2.3.3. Model configuration
Based on the ARW dynamic solver, we adopted a two-way
nesting for the simulations. A third-order Runge-Kutta (RK3)
time-split integration scheme was applied in temporal discretiza-
tion and the Arakawa C-grid staggering for variables was used in
spatial discretization [31]. Initially, the initial and lateral boundary
conditions for the parent domain were conducted using the Na-
tional Center for Environmental Prediction Final Analysis (NCEP-
FNL) data and the grid nudging method of four-dimensional data
assimilation (FDDA) was available at 6 h interval [32]. The United
States Geological Survey (USGS) data were replaced by the
MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote
sensing land cover category of land use and the soil surface model
modified by Noah, thus the resolution of static data in MODIS-
based land use was modis_30s þ 30s for each domain and the
spatial resolution was 30-arc-second. Also, the lambert projection
was defined in the variables.
According to the local geography and climate characteristics, the
suitable physical and dynamic schemes were designed, as sum-
marized in Table 2. To enhance the accuracy of the vertical profile
and reduce the sensitivity of the scheme to the time step, the WRF
Single-Moment 6-Class (WSM-6) was utilized to deal with the
simple microphysical process [33]. The rapid and accurate radiative
transfer model (RRTM) for long wave radiation scheme [34] and
Goddard for short wave radiation scheme [35] were adopted in the
radiation process. The land-surface process applied a thermal
diffusion scheme using the Grell-Freitas cumulus parameterization
scheme [36]. The Mellor-Yamada-Nakanishi and Niino-Level 2.5
(MYNN-2.5) ABL scheme was used to accurately describe the in-
fluence of the underlap on the boundary layer, involving the
transport processes of momentum, heat, water vapor, and shearing
effects and terrain forcing [37].
Three nested grid domains were considered, and the study areas
(JIALI_01 and JIALI_02 wind farms), as described in Section 2.3.1,
were located at the central of the innermost domain. Moreover,
three different horizontal resolutions (termed WRF-150, WRF-500,
and WRF-1000, in meters) were calculated to test the horizontal
grid resolution sensitivity and validate the simulation of the wind
farms. Moreover, because the terrain on the eastern and western
sides of the study field was relatively higher, the non-uniform
encryption treatment of the grid in the vertical direction was
Physics Scheme options
Surface Layer MM5
Planetary Boundary layer MYNN-2.5
Cumulus Parameterization Grell-Freitas
 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180 1173

Table 3 Table 4
Information of the domain configuration for the present WRF simulations. Statistical metrics of the wind speed.

Case Domain size/km: d01 ~ (450  450), Case MBE/m$s1 RMSE/m$s1 RRMSE R IA
d02 ~ (150  150), d03 ~ (50  50)
WRF-150 0.12 2.18 0.164 0.83 0.73
Grid number/nx, Horizontal Time step/s WRF-500 0.55 2.03 0.157 0.86 0.75
ny , nz resolution/m WRF-1000 1.98 2.72 0.211 0.79 0.65

WRF-150 334, 334, 61 1350, 450, 150 7.2, 2.4, 0.8

WRF-500 100, 100, 61 4500, 1500, 500
WRF-1000 50, 50, 61 9000, 3000, 1000
applied in each domain. Specifically, 61 levels were designed, with
31 levels below the height of 1 km and the 17 levels below 200 m
above ground; the wind rotor cut region was set as 6 levels. This
vertical resolution is greater than the previous studies [26,38,39],
and it makes the results more accurate. The details of the nested
domains are summarized in Table 3. In addition, the observed data
were discussed in Section 2.3.2, and the nine-day simulations (Jun
21st to Jun 29th in 2016) were performed.
3. Model validation
To quantitatively evaluate the performance of the WRF model,
the observed data extracted from the local wind mast were used to
compare with the simulated results under different horizontal
resolutions. Meanwhile, five statistical metrics at the hub height for
wind speed and wind direction were calculated. It consisted mean
bias error (MBE), root mean square error (RMSE), relative root mean
square error (RRMSE), correlation coefficient (R), and index of
agreement (IA) [40].
3.1. Wind speed
Fig. 7 illustrates the temporal distribution of wind speed for the
simulated results under three horizontal resolutions, i.e., 150 m,
500 m, and 1000 m, and the measured results at the hub height
collected from the local wind mast. It can be obtained that the
simulated results at different resolutions are generally in accept-
able agreement with the observed data during this period, but the
significant discrepancies appear at several separately moments,
particularly for the case of coarse resolution.
The quantitative accuracy statistical metrics of wind speed be-
tween the model results and observations are presented in Table 4.
The MBEs of wind speed for three cases are all negative values,
indicating that the simulated wind speed at these three horizontal
resolutions are underestimated. Further, it can be seen that few
outliers are produced during the simulated period for all the three
cases, through examining MBEs together with the values of RMSE,
14.4, 4.8, 1.6
28.8, 9.6, 3.2 e.g., 2.03e2.72 m/s. As reported in Ref. [40], the model's precision is
defined as good when RRMSE is 0.1e0.2 (excellent as
RRMSE < 10%); hence the model could reproduce the wind speed at
good accuracy except the case of WRF-1000 (the RRMSEs are
greater than 0.2). Similar conclusion could also be found from the
values of R. Specially, IA is a quite suggestive parameter for
assessing the accuracy of the model. It can be seen that the model
accuracy is apparently improved as the horizontal grid resolution is
enhanced when the resolution is less than 1000 m. On the contrary,
the accuracy of wind speed in WRF-150 is less than that in WRF-
500, which indicates that improving the horizontal grid resolu-
tion is limited for the improvement of the model accuracy. Such
results were also reported in precious studies [27,41]. Therefore, it
can be concluded that the both cases of WRF-150 and WRF-500 are
good for predicting the wind speed.
3.2. Wind direction
Fig. 8 displays the wind rose for the simulated results under
these three horizontal grid resolutions and the measured results at
the hub height. From the graph, there is no marked difference be-
tween the three horizontal grid resolutions. Meanwhile, although
there is a certain deviation existing in the wind direction prediction
between the observation and simulation, the evaluation results of
the model for the prevailing wind direction are consistent, i.e.,
NNW.
Similarly, the wind direction error statistical metrics for the
simulations and observations are also presented in Table 5. The
MBEs of wind direction for three cases are all positive, which

Fig. 7. The temporal distribution of wind speed for the model results under three
horizontal resolutions (150 m, 500 m, and 1000 m) and the measured result at the hub Fig. 8. Wind roses for the model results under three horizontal resolutions (150 m,
height. 500 m, and 1000 m) and the measured result at the hub height.
1174 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180

Table 5 reduction and turbulence enhancement [39]. It is one of the most

Statistical metrics of the wind direction.
Case MBE/ RMSE/ RRMSE R IA
WRF-150 23.88 39.45 0.211 0.75
WRF-500 24.86 40.18 0.213 0.76
WRF-1000 24.42 40.37 0.214 0.67
indicates that the model results have a clockwise deviation to the
observations. The large values of RMSE may be induced by several
outliers at very few moments. Because the RRMSEs are greater than
0.2, the accuracy of the wind direction prediction is fair for all cases.
From the values of R and IA, we can also see that the accuracy of
wind direction in the cases of WRF-150 and WRF-500 is higher than
that in WRF-1000; meanwhile, the horizontal resolution of 500 m
is the best.
In summary, improving the horizontal resolution of the model
from WRF-1000 to WRF-500 could significantly improves the ac-
curacy of wind resources assessment, but it slightly weaken the
simulation accuracy when the grid size is less than 500 m.
Furthermore, this paper focuses not only on the wake effect and
power deficit of each wind turbine, but also the interference be-
tween adjacent wind farms. To solve the power output and wake of
each wind turbine, the grid size should be less than the spacing of
two wind turbines. Considering the minimum distance between
two wind turbines in the target wind farms is 190 m, thus, a high
horizontal resolution of 150 m is selected. Following research is
carried out based on the results of WRF-150.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Overall wind farm wake nature
In large-scale wind farms, wind turbines absorb the kinetic
energy of ABL and convert it into electrical energy, which induces
the wake effect at downstream of the wind farms with wind speed
important factors affecting the operating efficiency of wind farms.
Thus, to improve the overall efficiency of wind farms, the wind
0.68
turbine wake needs to be evaluated in the initial stage of the wind
0.70 farm development and construction. Meanwhile, the wind farm
0.62 wake depends largely on its layout, which determined by the
prevailing wind direction. In this study, we defined the layout for
the four wind farms regions into the following three categories, i.e.,
(a) multiple rows are linearly distributed and wind turbine in-
creases row by row, such as JIALI_01-No. I; (b) less rows of linear
distribution, such as JIALI_01-No. II; and (c) less row of non-linear
distribution with compact span direction, e.g., JIALI_02-No. I and
JIALI_02-No. II.
In this study, two cases were taken into account that one case
turned on the wind turbine drag parameterization scheme (mark as
WF) and the other case turned off (mark as no-WF). The difference
between them was used to represent the effects of the wind tur-
bines in the atmospheric evolution. Typically, the wind condition
with prevailing wind direction (NNW) and average wind speed
(Uave ¼ 12.8 m/s) during the simulated period was selected. The
wind speed deficit ratio (DU/Uno-WF) at four different heights,
including the bottom of the wind rotor (hbot), the hub height of
wind turbine (hhub), the top of the wind rotor (htop), and the height
one diameter above the top of the wind rotor (hD), were extracted
for mapping as the three dimension contours, as shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 9 shows that the operation of the wind turbines produces
different levels of wake effects on the wind turbine rotating area
and its vicinity, among which the wake effect at the hub height is
the most apparent. While, the difference depends on the layout of
the wind farms. For the first category wind farm, e.g., JIALI_01-No. I,
the maximum value of DU/Uno-WF was up to 16%, appearing around
and downstream of the wind turbines #1, #2, #3 and #4, #5, #6 at
the hub height. For the third category wind farm, e.g., JIALI_02-No. I
and JIALI_02-No. II, the maximum value was 12%, occurring at the
downstream of the wind turbines #21, #22 and #23 in JIALI_02-No.
I, and wind turbines #6, #7 and #8 in JIALI_02-No. II. The wind

Fig. 9. Wake distribution of the whole wind farms at different heights.

 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180
turbine wake meandering downstream at the wind turbines of #2
(JIALI_01), and #22, #8 (JIALI_02) recovered 10% of the inflow wind
speed until the downstream of 3.7 km, 2.0 km, and 2.3 km; and 4%
of the inflow wind speed until the downstream of 16.5 km, 11.7 km,
and 13.7 km. The main reason is that the wake superimposition
effect of the downstream wind turbines becomes more significant
when the row number of the wind turbines arranged along the
prevailing wind direction increases. It has been demonstrated that
when the row of wind turbine is larger than five in main direction,
serious wake effects will occur downstream [42]. Moreover, the
magnitude of the DU/Uno-WF at other three levels diminishes,
especially for the height of hD the wind speed deficit ratio is almost
lower than 2%, which could be considered that the wake
meandering impact in vertical can be neglected over this level.
4.2. Overall wind farm power output properties
Overall wind farm realistic power output properties are not only
related to the designed power output of each wind turbine installed
in the wind farm, but also closely related to the local wind resource
nature and topography. As mentioned above, the terrain of the field
area is flat, so here we do not spend more word on this aspect.
Based on the actuator disk theory, the power extraction from the air
is proportional to the third power of the local wind speed [43]. It
was well verified that the model has a superior accuracy for the
wind speed assessment in section 3.1, therefore the power output
of the wind farms can be precisely resolved as well. The power
output of the wind farms during the period of 1100 LT (UTC þ 8 h)
06/22 to 1500 LT 06/25 for the wind farms of JIALI_01 and JIALI_02
were extracted, as shown in Fig. 10. To analyze the power output
properties, the normalized average wind speed U/Urate (the blue
dash curve for JIALI_01 and the pink dash curve for JIALI_02) for the
two wind farms are also presented in Fig. 10. The horizontal straight
dash lines in this figure are represent the rated power output for
the wind farms of JIALI_01 and JIALI_02, which marked as Prate_-
JIALI_01 and Prate_JIALI_02.
It is acknowledged that the power output properties of each
wind farm is directly determined by the local wind speed. Here
shows a process where the wind speed climbs first and then de-
creases. During the period of 1500 LT 06/23 to 2300 LT 06/24, the
wind speeds are greater than the rated value and reaches the
maximum of 20.4 m/s (Umax-JIALI_01) and 18.8 m/s (Umax-JIALI_02). For
the wind speed below the rated value, the wind turbine operates
with an optimal aerodynamic performance, and its power output is
proportional to the cubic of local wind speed. The wind farms are
operated at full load when the wind speed reaches the rated value.
Fig. 10. Power characteristics of these two wind farms.
1175
Fig. 11. Histogram of the power output frequency in these four wind farm regions.
The pitch adjustment can be used to limit the capture of the
pneumatic power of the wind turbine so that its power can be
maintained in the vicinity of the rated power, as shown in the
shaded area in Fig. 10. It should be noted that the mechanical loss
and power loss of the wind turbine are neglected in the solving
process, thus the simulated power is the theoretical output power
for the wind farms. In addition, to ensure the stability of the power
grid, it is necessary to perform peak shaving when the wind farm is
operated at full load in actual production. As a result, the actual
output power of the wind farm is far less than the simulated results,
as the bold dash curve labeled by PJIALI_01-Obs shown in Fig. 10.
Therefore, this model can accurately reflect the theoretical oper-
ating properties of the wind farms.
Fig. 11 displays the histogram of the power output frequency of
the different regions in the wind farms of JIALI_01 and JIALI_02. The
average power output of each wind farm region is 971 kW for
JIALI_01-No. I, 910 kW for JIALI_01-No. II, 1021 kW for JIALI_02-No.
I, and 1059 kW for JIALI_02-No. II, respectively. The frequency of
rated power bin is up to 30%, and the difference in the power output
of the wind turbines in each site mainly occurs in the range below
the rated power. The main reason is that the wake effect of the wind
farm varies significantly under the lower wind speed as the change
of the layout of the wind farms.
In addition, it is interesting that the total theoretical power
output of the wind farms are slightly lower than the rated power
when the local wind speed is greater than the rated velocity of the
wind turbine, such as the power output of JIALI_01 at 1600 LT 06/
24. To gain insight into this, based on the linear interpolate prin-
ciple [44], the wind turbine power output at each individual posi-
tions is extracted and displayed on the corresponding grid where it
is located, as shown in Fig. 12. Moreover, the histogram of the po-
wer deficit ratio (relative to Prate) of each region is also presented in
this figure.
The wind direction in the wind farm is north and the average
wind speed is 14.3 m/s at this time. As the downstream wind tur-
bines are affected in various degrees by the wake effect of the up-
stream wind turbines, the production of the downstream wind
turbines will be reduced and then the values of the entire field do
not reach the full load operation. From histogram of the power
deficit ratio for these four wind farm regions, it can be seen that the
frequency of power deficit ratio for JIALI_01-No. I and JIALI_01-No.
II are 39% and 79%, respectively; while for JIALI_02-No. I and
JIALI_02-No. II are 35% and 0%. The maximum power deficit ratio
are 40% for wind turbines #2 in JIALI_01-No. I, 44% for wind turbine
1176 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180

#55 in JIALI_01-No. II, and 30% for wind turbine #19 in JIALI_02-No.
II, respectively. In particular, even though the velocity is greater
than the rated wind speed, the power output of the first row of
wind turbines upstream of the JIALI_02 wind farm does not reach
the rated power. This may be attributed to the wake interaction
induced by the adjacent wind farm JIALI_01. Therefore, the inter-
ference effect between adjacent wind farms during the operation of
an actual wind farm is a non-negligible factor in process of evalu-
ating the wind farm operation.

4.3. Interaction between the adjacent wind farms

To ameliorate the efficiency of wind farms, except assessing the

wake effect between the turbines within a wind farm, the inter-
action between the adjacent wind farms within a regional wind
farms has to be taken into account. From the above analysis, we can
see that JIALI_01 will affect the performance of its downstream
wind farm JIALI_02. In order to explore its influence rule, an extra
case was added, which was set up to turn off the wind turbine drag
scheme for JIALI_01 wind farm. Specific cases and the descriptions
are listed in Table 6.

4.3.1. Wake interference characteristics

Fig. 13 shows the wind speed deficit contours for the Case2 and
Case3 under the typical wind condition, i.e., prevailing wind di-
Fig. 12. Wind turbine power output at each individual positions in these wind farms at
1600 LT 06/24, marked with the histogram of the power deficit ratio for the corre-
rection NNW and average wind speed 12.8 m/s. By comparing the
sponding wind farm regions. changes between them, the impact of the upstream wind farm on
the downstream one can be found. Here, we assumed that the wind
turbine wake recovered when the value of wind speed deficit ratio
Table 6 is less than 2% [27].
Information of the cases.
As can be seen from Fig. 13, the upstream wind farm JIALI_01 has
Casea Description a significant impact on the wake recovery characteristics of its
Case1 The WTDP scheme for both JIALI_01 and JIALI_02 were downstream adjacent wind farm JIALI_02. For Case2, i.e., just the
turned off, marked as ‘no-WF’. JILIA_02 WTDP scheme was turn on, the maximum wind speed
Case2 The WTDP scheme for JIALI_02 was turned on, marked deficit ratio is 14%, which occurred downstream of wind turbines
as ‘Without-JIALI_01’.
#20 in JIALI_02-No. I. The wind speed deficit ratio are less than 10%
Case3 The WTDP scheme for JIALI_01 and JIALI_02 were turned
on, marked as ‘With-JIALI_01’. at the distance of 1.5 km and 1.1 km downstream of the wind farms
of JIALI_02-No. I and JIALI_02-No. II, respectively; and the values are
a
The difference between Case2 and Case1 (DU ¼ UWithout-JIALI_01-Uno-WF) repre-
sents the impact of JIALI_02 on the ABL. Moreover, the difference between Case3 and
close to 2% at the distance of about 10.6 km and 15.0 km for these
Case1 (DU ¼ UWith-JIALI_01-Uno-WF) can represent the impact of both JIALI_01 and two wind farm regions. In other words, when there is no wind
JIALI_02 on the ABL. farms upstream, the wake of the JIALI_02 is recovered

Fig. 13. Contours of speed deficit ratio in cases of (a) Just JIALI_02 and (b) Coexistence of JIALI_02 and JIALI_01.
 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180
Fig. 14. Vertical profile of the normalized velocity at the selected wind turbines in two parts of JIALI_02 under three cases: Case1-no wind farms; Case2- Just wind farm of JIALI_02;
Case3- Both JIALI_02 and JIALI_01.
approximately 15.0 km downstream. In Case3, however, the WTDP
scheme for JIALI_01 was turned on, as a result that the drag of the
flow increases and then the wake meandering with low velocity
and high turbulence intensity becomes the inflow conditions for
the wind farm of JILIA_02. This could be clearly seen from the
enlarged graph in Fig. 13, and the apparent velocity deficit appeared
at the positions of #28 and #13, i.e., first row of JILIA_02; then this
diminishment spreads to its downstream and the maximum wind
speed deficit value of 16% occurs at the two wind turbines of #20
and #7. In this situation, the wind speed deficit ratio were less than
10% at the distance of 2.1 km and 2.3 km downstream of the wind
farms JIALI_02-No. I and JIALI_02-No. II, respectively; the speed
deficit ratio reduced to 2% at the distance about 20.8 km and
29.5 km for these two regions, considering that the wake is almost
completely recovered. In summary, due to the existence of JILAI_01,
the loss of wind speed inside JIALI_02 increased sharply and the
wake range was doubled.
It can be concluded that the wake of a large-scale wind farm has
a vital deceleration effect on its downstream wind farms within a
certain distance. Furthermore, the wake superposition effect occurs
after the wake from the upstream met the wake of the downstream
wind farm. On the one hand, the velocity deficit ratio increases; on
the other hand, the influence scope of the wake is enlarged.
Herein, the wind speed profiles of the specific wind turbines,
which suffered serious wake effects from the upwind wind tur-
bines, in three cases of Case1, Case2 and Case3, are illustrated in
Fig. 14. These wind turbines contain #27/#19 and #30/#22 in the
1177
wind farm of JILIA_02-No. I, and #13/#11/#8 and #1 in JILIA_02-No.
II, and each group of wind turbine is collinear along the wind di-
rection. More details can be seen on the left column of Fig. 14. The
wind speed profile of each wind turbine was normalized by the
rated wind speed of wind turbine (U/Urate) and the height was
normalized by the diameter of the wind turbine (z/D). The results
show that the significant differences appeared in the vertical wind
profile at the range where the selected wind turbines are presented
in three cases. For instance, the vertical wind profile shows a typical
logarithmic distribution when the WTDP scheme is turn off
(Case1); whereas, when turning on the certain WTDP scheme, the
apparent wind speed loss displayed at the rotating area of wind
rotor, particularly for the vicinity of hub height, the amount of loss
reached the maximum.
For Case2, only the WTDP of JIALI_02 was turn on, as the red
curves shown in Fig. 14. In the JIALI_02-No. I wind farm, the average
distance between the first row of wind turbines (#27 and #30) and
the second row of wind turbines (#22 and #19) was 0.62 km, i.e.,
9D. Inevitably, the wind turbines at second row exposed to the
wake flow of the upwind turbines, and the wind speed decreased
compare with the values of Case1. In the JIALI_02-No. II wind farm,
the distances between the wind turbine #13 and #11, #11 and #8
were 0.71 km and 0.65 km, respectively. Because the three wind
turbines were installed along the wind direction, the drag towards
the atmospheric along the airflow were enhanced and then it
makes the wind speed deficit increase gradually.
For Case3, the WTDP of JIALI_01 and JIALI_02 were turn on, as
1178 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180
the blue curve displayed in Fig. 14. As discussed in section 4.3.1, the
wind speed deficit ratio was about 6e8% at the distance of 2 km
downstream the JIALI_01 wind farm. Thus, the wake of JIALI_01
wind farm must has a certain impact on the performance of wind
turbines in the adjacent wind farm of JIALI_02. By comparing
Fig. 14(a)e(g), we can see that the JIALI_01 wind farm has the most
significant influence on the upstream wind turbines in JIALI_02
wind farm, and this influence is gradually diminished downstream.
Specially, the influence of the upstream wind farm on #1 in
JIALI_02-No. II is neglected, because the long enough distance
(3.5 km, i.e., more than 50D) ensures the wake recovery for JIALI_01.
Moreover, the rotation of the wind turbine blades during
operation also causes the vertical disturbance in the ABL. Inter-
estingly, it produces a slight acceleration effect in the area below
the bottom of the rotor and a slight diminishment within the slight
scope higher than the top of the rotor. The similar result was also
captured in the previous study [25]. And, its effect can be ignored
until the height up to three times of wind turbine diameter.
In summary, the wake effect between the adjacent wind farms is
one of the particularly essential factors for the wind farm devel-
opment. Practically, the wake flow of large-scale wind farms is fully
recovered at about 20e30 km downstream. Thus, it is necessary to
keep a reasonable buffer zone between adjacent wind farms,
balancing the wind farm wake effect and the land use efficiency.
4.3.2. Power output changes
To explore the effect of the upstream wind farm (JIALI_01) on
the power output of the downstream adjacent wind farm
(JIALI_02), the power output distribution in time for JIALI_02 under
the cases without JIALI_01 (Case2) and with JIALI_01 (Case3) were
considered. The power output were normalized by the total rated
power output of JIALI_02 (P/Prate_JIALI_02). In addition, to represent
the total power output changes of JIALI_02 caused by its upstream
wind farm, the relative power deficit εP is defined as:
PWithoutJIALI_01  PWithJIALI_01
εP ¼
PWithoutJIALI_01
where PWithout-JIALI_01 and PWith-JIALI_01 represent the power output
of JIALI_02 when the WTDP scheme of JIALI_01 is turn off and turn
on, respectively. Fig. 15 presents the detail of the power output
distribution of JIALI_02. In this double Y graph, the left-Y axis stands
for the normalized power output of JIALI_02 in the Case2 (bold dark
Fig. 15. Temporal power distribution of JIALI_02 under the conditions with and without the wind farm JIALI_01 and the corresponding relative power deficit (green bars).
curve) and the Case3 (dark curve), and the red fill area means the
difference between Case2 and Case3. Moreover, the right-Y axis
stands for the corresponding relative power deficit, presented by a
green histogram.
It can be obtained that the temporal distribution trends of the
power output for JIALI_02 under the conditions with and without
the wind farm JIALI_01 are approximately the same, but the dif-
ference between them is notable under the non-rated conditions.
When the wind speed in the wind farm region is low or does not
reach the rated velocity of the wind turbine, the wake meandering
of JIALI_01 cannot recover before it transfers to the wind turbine
positions in JIALI_02. As a result, the operation of wind farm
JIALI_02 is interfered, which in turn affects the power output of the
wind farm. For instance, the most severe impact of JIALI_01 on
JIALI_02 is discovered at 2200 LT 06/26, and the value reduced by
7568 kW, which is equivalent to 15.3% of the total rated power. This
is a considerable proportion in the production of an actual wind
farm. However, when the wind speed reaches the rated velocity of
the wind turbine, whether the WTDP scheme of JIALI_01 turned on
or not, the downstream wind farm JIALI_02 gained the full capacity
operation, as shown in the shaded areas in Fig. 15. The main reason
is that the mixture and turbulence of the ABL are strongly induced
as the wind speed increases. This leads to a reduction of atmo-
spheric stability and the wake effect of each wind turbine will be
attenuated. In particular, as the wind speed increases to the rated
value, and then the wake influence became tiny, thus the produc-
tion of JIALI_02 is close to the total rated power.
From the histogram in Fig. 15, it can be found that the impact of
JIALI_01 on the production of JIALI_02 is random and uncertain.
When the JIALI_02 is operating at full capacity, its relative power
deficit is about zero. But the value of εP varies if the wind speed is
below the Urate. Specially, the value of |εP| > 5% mostly occurred at
night time, dawn or after the sunset, and the maximum value up to
30% were discovered at the several moments, e.g., 1600 LT 06/22,
2300 LT 06/25, and 2200 LT 06/26. In general, the relative power
deficit of JIALI_02 presents a diurnal alternation, i.e., JIALI_01 has a
(13) larger impact on JIALI_02 downstream during the night time than
the day time. At night, the turbulent mixing of the momentum
deficit is inhibited by the stable ABL within the wind rotor, leading
to a long-distance wake meandering with low speed. On the con-
trary, daytime convective ABL presents little influence on the wind
speeds of the wind farm. As the wake produced by the wind farm
rapidly mixes through the ABL, the impact region at day time is
 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180
Fig. 16. Distribution of the mean power loss rate of JIALI_02 under different wind
speeds.
limit [25,45]. Therefore, the impact of the upstream wind farm on
its downstream wind farm is closely related to the local wind speed
and atmospheric stability.
The previous studies [45,46] discussed the influence of the at-
mospheric stability. Herein, we try to explore the relationship be-
tween relative power deficit and wind speed in the wind farm.
Fig. 16 presents the scatter plot of the relative power deficit of
JIALI_02 at different wind speed during the simulated period. Also,
the distribution curve of the average relative power deficit was
calculated with the bin of 1 m/s. From this scatter plot, it can be
seen that the relative power deficit is relatively large and reaches a
maximum value of 30% at about 9 m/s when the wind speed is
lower than the rated wind speed; and the relative power deficit
rapidly decreases to zero when the wind speed is greater than the
rated value. From the average distribution curve, we can see that
the relative power deficit of the farm exceed 6% when the wind
speed is 4e11 m/s. Thus, we can conclude that the larger impact of
the large-scale wind farm on its adjacent downstream wind farm
Fig. 17. Power output frequency histogram of JIALI_02 under conditions with and
without JIALI_01.
1179
mainly takes place at the wind speed lower than rated value,
especially for the bin of 8e10 m/s.
In addition, to intuitively obtain the interference effect of
JIALI_01 on the power output of its downstream adjacent JIALI_02
wind farm, Fig. 17 illustrates the frequency histogram of the power
output for JIALI_02 in the Case2 and the Case3. Herein, the power
output frequency difference (DFi) is defined as the change between
the power frequencies under the condition without and with wind
farm disturbance within the power bin i, where the DFi > 0 in-
dicates that the upstream wind farm decreases the proportion in
the power bin i, and the DFi < 0 indicates that it enhances the
proportion. It can be seen that DFi > 0 mainly occurs in the power of
(0.8e1.0) Prate_JIALI_02, while DFi < 0 mainly occurs at the power
region of (0e0.8) Prate_JIALI_02. Therefore, because of the disturbance
of the upstream wind farm, the proportion of the high power bins
of the downstream wind farm is reduced, and the proportion of the
low power bins is increased. Overall, the average relative power
deficit is 5.8% during the simulated period.
5. Conclusions
The aim of this paper was to evaluate the performance and wake
interaction between the adjacent wind farms under the actual
terrain and weather conditions. In this research, the wake nature,
power output property, and the interference between two adjacent
large-scale wind farms in the Hami region of Xinjiang province in
China were investigated using the WRF modeling system coupled
with wind turbine drag parameterization scheme. Several points
are summarized as follows:
C The mesoscale model horizontal grid sensitivity analysis was
performed. The simulated wind speed and wind direction
with resolutions of 150 m, 500 m, and 1000 m were all
acceptable agreement with the observed data extracted from
the local wind mast. Interestingly, refining the horizontal
resolution within 500 m slightly weaken the simulation ac-
curacy. Considering the trade-off between the model accu-
racy and research objectives, thus, a high horizontal
resolution of 150 m was firstly selected to investigate the
wind farm interference.
C The nature of wake effect, power output, and operating
characteristics of overall wind farms was analyzed. The wake
properties for three categories layout wind farm regions
under typical weather condition with the prevailing wind
direction and average wind speed were investigated. The
results showed that the wake meandering for the wind farms
with multiple rows recovers more slowly than the wind
farms with less rows. In addition, the frequency of power
output for entire wind farm within the bin of rated value was
up to 30%, and the difference for each region is mainly
occurred below the rated power.
C The impacts of large-scale wind farm on its downstream
adjacent wind farm, including the wake interference char-
acteristics and power output changes, were quantitatively
assessed. Due to the turbulence induced by the upstream
wind farms, the wake distance of the downstream wind farm
is doubled. In practical, the wake meandering of large-scale
wind farms is fully recovered at about 20e30 km down-
stream. A diurnal alternation property was revealed for the
relative power deficit of downstream wind farm, with a
greater magnitude at night time, dawn or after sunset.
Overall, the average relative power deficit is 5.8% during the
simulated period. Thus, it is vital to reserve a reasonable
buffer zone between the adjacent wind farms, which could
1180 Q. Wang et al. / Energy 166 (2019) 1168e1180

find a compromise between wind farm efficiency and land [21] Zhao J, Guo Z-H, Su Z-Y, Zhao Z-Y, Xiao X, Liu F. An improved multi-step
forecasting model based on WRF ensembles and creative fuzzy systems for
usage.
wind speed. Appl Energy 2016;162:808e26.
[22] Zhao J, Guo Y, Xiao X, Wang J, Chi D, Guo Z. Multi-step wind speed and power
Acknowledgements forecasts based on a WRF simulation and an optimized association method.
Appl Energy 2017;197:183e202.
[23] Hoolohan V, Tomlin AS, Cockerill T. Improved near surface wind speed pre-
This work was supported by the National Natural Science dictions using Gaussian process regression combined with numerical weather
Foundation of China (Grants No. 51766014). We are grateful to the predictions and observed meteorological data. Renew Energy 2018;126:
members who are not listed as co-authors for their helpful dis- 1043e54.
[24] Fitch AC, Olson JB, Lundquist JK, Dudhia J, Gupta AK, Michalakes J, et al. Local
cussions and comments. and mesoscale impacts of wind farms as parameterized in a mesoscale NWP
model. Mon Weather Rev 2012;140(9):3017e38.
References [25] Fitch AC, Lundquist JK, Olson JB. Mesoscale influences of wind farms
throughout a diurnal cycle. Mon Weather Rev 2013;141(7):2173e98.
[26] Jime
nez PA, Navarro J, Palomares AM, Dudhia J. Mesoscale modeling of
[1] Ren G, Liu J, Wan J, Guo Y, Yu D. Overview of wind power intermittency:
offshore wind turbine wakes at the wind farm resolving scale: a composite-
impacts, measurements, and mitigation solutions. Appl Energy 2017;204:
based analysis with the Weather Research and Forecasting model over
47e65.
Horns Rev. Wind Energy 2015;18(3):559e66.
[2] Mostafaeipour A, Jadidi M, Mohammadi K, Sedaghat A. An analysis of wind
[27] Yuan R, Ji W, Luo K, Wang J, Zhang S, Wang Q, et al. Coupled wind farm
energy potential and economic evaluation in Zahedan, Iran. Renew Sustain
parameterization with a mesoscale model for simulations of an onshore wind
Energy Rev 2014;30(30):641e50.
farm. Appl Energy 2017;206:113e25.
[3] Liu J, Gao CY, Ren J, Liang H, Gao Z, Wang L. Wind resource potential
[28] Laprise R. The Euler equations of motion with hydrostatic pressure as an in-
assessment using a long term tower measurement approach: a case study of
dependent variable. Mon Weather Rev 1992;120(1):197e208.
Beijing in China. J Clean Prod 2018;174:917e26.
[29] Giannakopoulou E-M, Nhili R. WRF model methodology for offshore wind
[4] Ko K, Kang M, Huh J. Year-to-year variation in wind resource and assessment
energy applications. Adv Meteorol 2014;2014:1e14.
of WAsP prediction for wind machine power. J Mech Sci Technol 2009;23(3):
[30] Climate of Hami in Xinjiang. Avaliable from: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%
750e7.
 Mikulovi
E5%93%88%E5%AF%86/6601700?fr¼aladdin.
[5] Ðurisi

c Z, c J. A model for vertical wind speed data extrapolation for
[31] Skamarock JBK WC, Dudhia J, et al. A description of the advanced research
improving wind resource assessment using WAsP. Renew Energy 2012;41(2):
WRF. USA: National Center for Atmospheric Research; 2008.
407e11.
[32] Ulazia A, Saenz J, Ibarra-Berastegui G. Sensitivity to the use of 3DVAR data
[6] Lange B, Højstrup J. Evaluation of the wind-resource estimation program
assimilation in a mesoscale model for estimating offshore wind energy po-
WAsP for offshore applications. J Wind Eng Ind Aerod 2001;89(3):271e91.
tential. A case study of the Iberian northern coastline. Appl Energy 2016;180:
[7] Tian W, Ozbay A, Hu H. An experimental investigation on the aeromechanics
617e27.
and wake interferences of wind turbines sited over complex terrain. J Wind
[33] Hong SY, Noh Y, Dudhia J. A new vertical diffusion package with an explicit
Eng Ind Aerod 2018;172:379e94.
treatment of entrainment processes. Mon Weather Rev 2006;134(9):
[8] Chamorro LP, Porte
-Agel F. Effects of thermal stability and incoming
2318e41.
boundary-layer flow characteristics on wind-turbine wakes: a wind-tunnel
[34] Mlawer EJ, Taubman SJ, Brown PD, et al. Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous
study. Bound-lay Meteorol 2010;136(3):515e33.
atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated-k model for the longwave.
[9] Abdelsalam AM, Ramalingam V. Wake prediction of horizontal-axis wind
J Geophys Res Atmos 1997;102(D14):16663e82.
turbine using full-rotor modeling. J Wind Eng Ind Aerod 2014;124(7):7e19.
[35] Fouquart Y, Bonnel B, Ramaswamy V. Intercomparing shortwave radiation
[10] Yan S, Shi S, Chen X, Wang X, Mao L, Liu X. Numerical simulations of flow
codes for climate studies. J Geophys Res Atmos 1991;96(D5):8955e68.
interactions between steep hill terrain and large scale wind turbine. Energy
[36] Grell GA, eacute, eacute, nyi D. A generalized approach to parameterizing
2018;151:740e7.
convection combining ensemble and data assimilation techniques. Geophys
[11] Fejtek I, Roberts L. Navier-Stokes computation of wing/rotor interaction for a
Res Lett 2002;29(6):587e90.
tilt rotor in hover. AIAA J 1992;30(11):2595e603.
[37] Nakanishi M, Niino H. Development of an improved turbulence closure model
[12] Sorensen JN, Shen WZ. Numerical modeling of wind turbine wakes. J Fluid Eng
for the atmospheric boundary layer. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 2009;87(5):895e912.
2002;124(2):393.
[38] Carvalho D, Rocha A, Go
mez-Gesteira M, et al. Offshore wind energy resource
[13] Liu Y, Yoshida S. An extension of the generalized actuator disc theory for
simulation forced by different reanalyses: comparison with observed data in
aerodynamic analysis of the diffuser-augmented wind turbines. Energy
the Iberian Peninsula. Appl Energy 2014;134:57e64.
2015;93:1852e9.
[39] Na JS, Koo E, Mun ~ oz-Esparza D, et al. Turbulent kinetics of a large wind farm
[14] Wu Y-T, Porte
-Agel F. Simulation of turbulent flow inside and above wind
and their impact in the neutral boundary layer. Energy 2016;95:79e90.
farms: model validation and layout effects. Bound-lay Meteorol 2012;146(2):
[40] Mohammadi K, Alavi O, Mostafaeipour A, et al. Assessing different parameters
181e205.
estimation methods of Weibull distribution to compute wind power density.
[15] Wu Y-T, Porte
-Agel F. Large-eddy simulation of wind-turbine wakes: evalu-
Energy Convers Manag 2016;108:322e35.
ation of turbine parametrisations. Bound-lay Meteorol 2010;138(3):345e66.
[41] Marjanovic N, Wharton S, Chow FK. Investigation of model parameters for
[16] Naderi S, Torabi F. Numerical investigation of wake behind a HAWT using
high-resolution wind energy forecasting: case studies over simple and com-
modified actuator disc method. Energy Convers Manag 2017;148:1346e57.
plex terrain. J Wind Eng Ind Aerod 2014;134:10e24.
[17] Naderi S, Parvanehmasiha S, Torabi F. Modeling of horizontal axis wind tur-
[42] Shenjun W. Study on wake characteristics of wind turbines based on actuator
bine wakes in Horns Rev offshore wind farm using an improved actuator disc
line model. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Sciences; 2014.
model coupled with computational fluid dynamic. Energy Convers Manag
[43] Burton T, Jenkins N, Sharpe D, Bossanyi E. Wind energy handbook. 2011.
2018;171:953e68.
[44] Mughal MO, Lynch M, Yu F, et al. Wind modelling, validation and sensitivity
[18] Storm B, Dudhia J, Basu S, Swift A, Giammanco I. Evaluation of the Weather
study using Weather Research and Forecasting model in complex terrain.
Research and Forecasting model on forecasting low-level jets: implications for
Environ Modell Softw 2017;90:107e25.
wind energy. Wind Energy 2009;12(1):81e90.
[45] Zhou L, Tian Y, Baidya Roy S, et al. Impacts of wind farms on land surface
[19] Giannaros TM, Melas D, Ziomas I. Performance evaluation of the Weather
temperature. Nat Clim Change 2012;2(7):539e43.
Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for assessing wind resource in Greece.
[46] Husien W, El-Osta W, Dekam E. Effect of the wake behind wind rotor on
Renew Energy 2017;102:190e8.
optimum energy output of wind farms. Renew Energy 2013;49:128e32.
[20] Wang C, Jin S. Error features and their possible causes in simulated low-level
winds by WRF at a wind farm. Wind Energy 2014;17(9):1315e25.