Simulated potential wind power sensitivity to the planetary boundary layer parameterizations combined with various topography datasets in the weather research and forecasting model

Abstract Wind power simulation was validated to be sensitive to the planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes in the Weather Researching and Forecasting (WRF) model. However, the performance of PBL schemes was rarely evaluated under different resolutions of topography. In this study, we present a sensitivity study to figure out how the resolution of the topography database will influence the performance of PBL schemes. It refers not only to the individual impact of the PBL schemes and topography datasets on wind speed prediction but also the combined interactions. Hourly simulated wind speeds are compared with the measurements at different heights, and these differences are statistically analyzed in both stable and unstable surface layers under the flat and complex terrain. The results show that the Yonsei University (YSU) scheme offers consistently good predictions, however, the Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) scheme which has poor performance still provides acceptable outcomes under high-resolution topography. The wind speed shows low sensitivity to the PBL schemes and the relevant wind power density is nearly declined by 6% with refined resolution topography datasets over the complex terrain. Accordingly, a precise topography dataset can increase the simulated robustness of potential wind power prediction.