Do large-scale wind farms affect air quality forecast? Modeling evidence in Northern China

Abstract. Wind farms have been found to alter local and regional meteorology and climate. Here, we show that multiple large-scale wind farms might disturb air quality forecasts and affect PM_2.5 air pollution. We explore the impact of large-scale wind farms on PM_2.5 concentrations and forecasts in the Northern China Plain in winter and summer using a coupled weather forecast – atmospheric chemistry model (WRF-Chem). Modelling results reveal that the large-scale wind farms decrease PM_2.5 levels within the wind farms and increase PM_2.5 concentrations by 49 % and 16 % of the modelled monthly mean PM_2.5 concentrations in proximate areas and regions hundreds of kilometres downstream. The wind farm-forced changes in PM_2.5 are more evident in the simulated hourly PM_2.5 concentrations. The model sensitivity studies reveal that hourly concentration fractions in winter induced by wind farms vary from −40 % to 250 % in nearby and distant downstream regions and metropolises, comparing with the cases without the wind farms. The impact of wind farms on modeled PM_2.5 during the nighttime is stronger than that in the daytime. Our results suggested that the wind farm perturbed changes in PM_2.5 should not be overlooked because such changes might affect air quality forecast on an hourly basis, particularly in heavily contaminated Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region by PM_2.5.