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"SuperCharging" Conventional Wind Farms with Megascale
Airborne Sails Capacity of an existing conventional wind farm
can be greatly enhanced by setting a megascale kite arch to windward to
divert the common LLJ layer downward to blow directly on surface-based
turbine arrays. The kite arch would stay upwind, well clear of the
turbines, as it naturally creates a downwash to scrub away surface
turbulence with a strong coherent jet. The method might also favor single
unit turbines in selected cases.
This solves the AWES generation problem in a rather neat new way, and may
be ideal to greatly boost offshore wind farm capacity during seasonal low
wind. Existing wind capital investment would be leveraged, with the only
added capital-cost a large cheap sail, its tackle, and anchoring,
suggesting a nice quick pay-back. Airborne supercharging may be an
"early-favored" hybrid before other more integrated megascale AWES
solutions emerge.
A key test will be to sample surface wind downstream of a Mothra to
characterize the surface wind boost effect.
Comment and development of this topic will be occurring here.
All, send notes, links, drawings, and photographs!
- Terms and aspects:
- Ducting, funneling, Venturi, damming, wind dam,
- wind diversion by airborne sails, wind diversion by kite systems,
- Related links and concepts:
- Commentary is welcome:
- cmt
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