TY - Journal Article AU - Ulazia, Alain AU - Nafarrate, Ander AU - Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel AU - Sáenz, Jon AU - Carreno-Madinabeitia, Sheila TI - The Consequences of Air Density Variations over Northeastern Scotland for Offshore Wind Energy Potential PY - 2019 PB - MDPI AB - Hywind-Scotland is a wind farm in Scotland that for many reasons is at the leading edge of technology and is located at a paradigmatic study area for offshore wind energy assessment. The objective of this paper is to compute the Capacity Factor ( CF ) changes and instantaneous power generation changes due to seasonal and hourly fluctuations in air density. For that reason, the novel ERA5 reanalysis is used as a source of temperature, pressure, and wind speed data. Seasonal results for winter show that CF values increase by 3% due to low temperatures and denser air, with economical profit consequences of tens of thousands (US$). Hourly results show variations of 7% in air density and of 26% in power generation via FAST simulations, emphasizing the need to include air density in short-term wind energy studying. SN - 1996-1073 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11556/744 DX - 10.3390/en12132635 ER -