Evaluation of Microphysical Schemes of High-Resolution WRF-ARW Model in Windspeed Forecasting over a Complex Terrain Wind-farm Cluster in India

Abstract

Microphysical sensitivity experiments were conducted to forecast complex terrain windspeed over a windfarm cluster in Maharashtra, India using high-resolution WRF-ARW model with 6 km outer and 2 km inner domain during the month of June 2022. The simulations were compared to hub-height wind measurements from wind turbines data. Results showed that the WSM5 microphysical scheme produced the minimum absolute error for complex mountainous terrain, while Ferrier performed the worst, and produced the largest error in wind speed at a height of 120 meters. Moreover, planetary boundary layer and topographic representation also play a vital role in modeling complex terrain wind forecasts. The performance of other physical variables for different microphysical schemes remained almost similar with minor fluctuations. Our experiments suggest that the adopting high-resolution WRF-ARW model with suitable combinations of physical parameterizations especially WSM5 microphysical schemes can significantly improve windspeed forecasting over complex terrain wind sites.