Lessons learned in coupling atmospheric models across scalesfor onshore and offshore wind energy

The Mesoscale to Microscale Coupling team, part of theU.S. Department of Energy Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) initiative, hasstudied various important challenges related to coupling mesoscale models tomicroscale models for the use case of wind energy development and operation.Several coupling methods and techniques for generating turbulence at themicroscale that is subgrid to the mesoscale have been evaluated for avariety of cases. Case studies included flat-terrain, complex-terrain, andoffshore environments. Methods were developed to bridge the terra incognita, which scales fromabout 100 m through the depth of the boundary layer. The team usedwind-relevant metrics and archived code, case information, and assessmenttools and is making those widely available. Lessons learned and discernedbest practices are described in the context of the cases studied for thepurpose of enabling further deployment of wind energy.