A photo from open sources
Having analyzed the data collected using several computer models working on Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac, scientists from Stanford and the University of Delaware have concluded that large wind farms installed on the coast can be quite greatly affect wind speed during a hurricane and on the character surge wave during the storm.
All offshore farms that were analyzed were installed on 100 km from the US coast. Depending on the area and the power of turbines, such farms markedly reduced the force of gusts of wind and slowed down the progress of hurricanes. So, off the coast of New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina raged, 78,000 windmills were able to lower the windmill head from 62.6 m / s to 26.5 m / s, i.e., 71%. This means that the common the damage caused by the hurricane could be several times larger if not an obstacle like windmills.
Of course, the cost of building and operating a large windmill farms of several thousand turbines can be much higher material damage from some hurricanes. If use wind turbines only to prevent damage from a hurricane, a 32 km long farm along the New York coastline a budget of $ 210 billion. If you constantly operate turbines for appoint and sell the energy received, the farm is fast enough will pay for itself, unlike breakwaters and other barrage designs.
