Finding Solutions to Avoid Wind Energy Waste
via University of Denver: As onshore and offshore wind energy farms have proliferated in recent years, new research highlights a previously underexplored consequence: a wake effect from upwind wind farms that can significantly reduce the energy production — and related financial returns — of their downwind neighbors. The research appears today in the journal Nature Energy. Over a century ago, oil and gas law recognized the “rule of capture,” which allows a landowner to capture a neighbor’s oil resources by sucking them from an adjacent well. This resulted in poor well-field recoveries and waste, so states intervened to regulate production through well-spacing, pooling, and other coordination measures. Similarly, states have developed water law regimes that protect rights for prior users. But current U.S. property law contains no such provisions for wind energy. “It took oil and gas and water law decades to create these legal regimes,” said K.K. DuVivier, a co-author of the study and professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. “It appears that wind energy has not yet reached a similar stage of maturity. I hope this research will help raise awareness about the extent of the waking problem and educate those seeking a legal remedy.” The study, led by the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with the University of Denver (DU) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), combines legal and economic analysis with atmospheric modeling to demonstrate that wake effects — which occur when groups of turbines reduce wind speed for up to… Read more