Wind farms have little effect on local climate, study says

BBC : As the number of wind turbines has increased, some people have raised concerns over whether the turbines have adverse effects on local climatic conditions. To find out, a group of researchers has now conducted the first in-depth study by focusing on one of the largest onshore turbine arrays in Scotland, the Black Law Wind Farm. Stephen Mobbs of the University of Leeds and his colleagues installed temperature and humidity sensors across the 18.6 km² site. Because the turbines had to be shut off for several months for maintenance, the researchers were able to compare conditions when the turbines were operating with those when they were idle. Although the research team did detect a warming effect, it was very small—no more than 0.18 °C . Furthermore, the effect is at ground level and highly localized and so is “not something people should be worried about,” said Mobbs.