Researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have developed high-resolution computer simulations, done on the Trestles supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, that take into account how the air flows within and around a wind-farm in unprecedented detail. The study, published recently in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, challenges conventional wisdom that suggests the highest power output comes when the turbines are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. As it turns out, the highest power results when the lateral offset of turbines is such that they are just outside each other’s wakes. When this coincides with prevailing wind directions at a given site, this may in fact yield higher power levels, according to the researchers. To read further, please visit http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR010515_windfarm.html.