Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms On The Atmospheric Environment Over Taiwan Strait During An Extreme Weather Typhoon Event

Wind energy is one of the cleanest renewable resources. Through the “Thousand Wind Turbines Project”, Taiwan is planning to increase the proportion of power generation from renewable energy and has set a target of 5.7 GW for offshore wind by 2025. However, the effects of future offshore wind farms (OWFs) over the Taiwan Strait on the atmospheric environment have not been evaluated. This study examined the potential effects of proposed OWFs on the atmospheric environment if the OWFs had existed during Tropical Storm Haitang (July 30–31, 2017) by using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. As Tropical Storm Haitang made landfall in southern Taiwan and moved northward, wake effects formed at downstream of the OWFs and weather parameters were affected at the coastal area of western Taiwan. A significant reduction (as high as 6.1 %) in 24-hour accumulated precipitation was found over the western plain of Taiwan. Concurrently, the divergence increased, corresponding to a reduction in wind speed, vertical velocity, moisture flux, reflectivity and precipitable water–vapor (PWV), whereas a slight warming of near-surface air occurred. Sensitivity simulations demonstrated that the influence of OWF location and wind turbine density should not be ignored.