Numerical investigation of regenerative wind farms featuring enhanced vertical energy entrainment

Abstract. Numerical simulations of wind farms consisting of innovative wind energy harvesting systems are conducted. The novel wind harvesting system is designed to generate strong lift (vertical force) with lifting devices. It is demonstrated that the trailing vortices generated by these lifting devices can substantially enhance wake recovery rates by altering the vertical entrainment process. Specifically, the wake recovery of the novel systems is based on vertical advection processes instead of turbulent mixing. Additionally, the novel wind energy harvesting systems are hypothesized to be feasible without requiring significant technological advancements, as they could be implemented as multi-rotor systems with lifting devices (MRSLs), where the lifting devices consist of large airfoil structures. Wind farms with these novel wind harvesting systems, namely MRSLs, are termed regenerative wind farms, inspired by the concept that the upstream MRSLs actively entrain energy for the downstream ones. With the concept of regenerative wind farming, much higher wind farm capacity factors are anticipated. Specifically, the simulation results indicate that wind farm efficiencies can be nearly doubled by replacing traditional wind turbines with MRSLs under the tested conditions, and this disruptive advancement can potentially lead to a profound reduction in the cost of future renewable energy.