Everyone’s familiar with the ‘shading effect’ that occurs on solar energy schemes. If a tree or high rise building casts a shadow on your photovoltaic cell’s glass face, that means your system isn’t generating as much energy as it could, because it’s not catching as much sunlight as it could.

The Horns Rev wake effect, in the North Sea. Picture courtesy renewableenergyworld.com and NOAA.

But did you know that wind turbine farms are hindered by a similar phenomenon? It’s known as a wake effect, and oftentimes, it’s caused by the wind turbines themselves. A now famous picture of the so termed ‘Horns Rev wake effect’ was taken off the coast of Europe in the North Sea of an offshore wind farm.

Imagine you could see the wind. It’s flowing along peacefully across the ocean. Then someone puts an obstacle in its way. And not just any obstacle, it’s a spinning…