%0 Journal Article %1 Vautard2014Regional %A Vautard, Robert %A Thais, Francoise %A Tobin, Isabelle %A Bréon, Francois-Marie %A de Lavergne, Jean-Guy D. %A Colette, Augustin %A Yiou, Pascal %A Ruti, Paolo M. %D 2014 %J Nature Communications %K windpowerchangingclimate climatechange energy renewables wind feedback %R 10.1038/ncomms4196 %T Regional climate model simulations indicate limited climatic impacts by operational and planned European wind farms %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4196 %V 5 %X The rapid development of wind energy has raised concerns about environmental impacts. Temperature changes are found in the vicinity of wind farms and previous simulations have suggested that large-scale wind farms could alter regional climate. However, assessments of the effects of realistic wind power development scenarios at the scale of a continent are missing. Here we simulate the impacts of current and near-future wind energy production according to European Union energy and climate policies. We use a regional climate model describing the interactions between turbines and the atmosphere, and find limited impacts. A statistically significant signal is only found in winter, with changes within ±0.3 °C and within 0–5\% for precipitation. It results from the combination of local wind farm effects and changes due to a weak, but robust, anticyclonic-induced circulation over Europe. However, the impacts remain much weaker than the natural climate interannual variability and changes expected from greenhouse gas emissions.

@article{Vautard2014Regional, abstract = {The rapid development of wind energy has raised concerns about environmental impacts. Temperature changes are found in the vicinity of wind farms and previous simulations have suggested that large-scale wind farms could alter regional climate. However, assessments of the effects of realistic wind power development scenarios at the scale of a continent are missing. Here we simulate the impacts of current and near-future wind energy production according to European Union energy and climate policies. We use a regional climate model describing the interactions between turbines and the atmosphere, and find limited impacts. A statistically significant signal is only found in winter, with changes within ±0.3 °C and within 0–5\% for precipitation. It results from the combination of local wind farm effects and changes due to a weak, but robust, anticyclonic-induced circulation over Europe. However, the impacts remain much weaker than the natural climate interannual variability and changes expected from greenhouse gas emissions.}, added-at = {2018-06-18T21:23:34.000+0200}, author = {Vautard, Robert and Thais, Fran\c{c}oise and Tobin, Isabelle and Br\'{e}on, Fran\c{c}ois-Marie and de Lavergne, Jean-Guy D. and Colette, Augustin and Yiou, Pascal and Ruti, Paolo M.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/247ceac76a29ac4fc7ecdf0a57fb6126c/pbett}, citeulike-article-id = {13037036}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4196}, comment = {(private-note)Impacts of large wind energy deployment over Europe are within natural interannual variability. Open access.}, day = 11, doi = {10.1038/ncomms4196}, interhash = {b13e769876d83125e9b07fbc5bd239d2}, intrahash = {47ceac76a29ac4fc7ecdf0a57fb6126c}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, keywords = {windpowerchangingclimate climatechange energy renewables wind feedback}, month = feb, posted-at = {2015-03-02 22:18:55}, priority = {2}, timestamp = {2018-06-22T18:34:41.000+0200}, title = {Regional climate model simulations indicate limited climatic impacts by operational and planned European wind farms}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4196}, volume = 5, year = 2014 }