On predicting offshore hub height wind speed and wind power density in the Northeast US coast using high-resolution WRF model configurations during anticyclones coinciding with wind drought

The selected atmospheric conditions were high-pressure systems (anticyclones) coinciding with wind speed below the cut-in wind turbine threshold. There are many factors affecting the potential of offshore wind power generation, one of them being low winds, namely wind droughts, that have been present in future climate change scenarios.

The efficiency of high-resolution hub height wind prediction for such events has not been extensively investigated, even though the anticipation of such events will be important in our increased reliance on wind and solar power resources in the near future. We used offshore wind observations from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's (WHOI) Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT) located south of Martha's Vineyard to assess the impact of the initial and boundary conditions, number of model vertical levels, and inclusion of high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) fields.