CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OFFSHORE WIND TURBULENCE OBSERVED BY JAPANESE NATIONWIDE GPS-BUOY NETWORK

Abstract

 Offshore wind farms have not yet been realized in Japan except for some near-shore plants although they are promising for sustainable economic growth with less CO₂ emission. This paper introduces a marine condition study for offshore wind farm design, using simultaneous data of waves and winds obtained by GPS buoys used in NOWPHAS (Nationwide Ocean Wave information network for Ports and Harbors), in order to clarify the offshore wind turbulence characteristics. Values of offshore wind turbulence coefficient defined as the ratio between the standard deviation of wind speed variation and the average wind speed are smaller than those of onland one.