PNNL

Abstract

The Mesoscale to Microscale Coupling team, part of the US Department of Energy Atmosphere to electrons (A2e) effort, has studied various important challenges related to coupling mesoscale models to microscale models for the use case of wind energy development. Several coupling methods and techniques for generating turbulence at the microscale that is subgrid to the mesoscale have been evaluated for a variety of cases, for flat terrain, complex terrain, and offshore environments. Methods were developed to bridge the terra incognita, that scale from about 100 m through the depth of the boundary layer. The team used wind-relevant metrics and archived code, case information, and assessment tools and are making those widely available. Lessons learned and discerned best practices are described in the context of the cases studied for the purpose of enabling deployment of wind energy.