Wind Energy and the Turbulent Nature of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

The challenge of developing a sustainable and renewable energy supply within the next decades requires collaborative eorts as well as new concepts in the elds of science and engineering. Here we give an overview on the impact of small-scale properties of atmospheric turbulence on the wind energy conversion process. Special emphasis is given to the noisy and intermittent structure of turbulence and its outcome for wind energy conversion and utilization. Experimental, theoretical, analytical, and numerical concepts and methods are presented. In particular we report on new aspects resulting from the combination of basic research, especially in the eld of turbulence and complex stochastic systems, with engineering applications.