Swell effects on the performance of a utility-scale offshore wind farm

Swell-induced variations of the sea surface height may have an impact on the performance of wind turbines. Past studies indicate that sea waves could modulate the turbines power production, inducing variations of up to almost 7%. However, these studies are typically performed using numerical simulations of canonical infinite wind farms, which may overlook any insight into the developing boundary layer over the upstream turbines. To address this limitation, we conducted a comprehensive investigation using large eddy simulations (LES) of a utility-scale offshore wind farm. The study aimed to understand the impact of sea surface height variations on wind farm performance. The numerical results obtained from the offshore utility-scale wind farm under wavy bottom boundary conditions were compared against results obtained from a numerical simulation employing flat boundary conditions. Utilizing more realistic boundary conditions and a high-resolution LES approach is expected to capture previously overlooked intricacies of the wind farm performance.