About the Professor

Biography

Rebecca Barthelmie joined Cornell University in 2014 as a Professor and Croll Faculty Fellow in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She previously held positions at the Danish Technical University, Edinburgh University and Indiana University. She is author of over 150 journal papers, 400 conference papers and reports and is an editor of the journals Wind Energy, Wind Energy Science and Energies. Professor Barthelmie received the 2009 scientific award from the European Wind Energy Academy for ‘her extraordinary efforts and achievements in the field of wind energy research’. She is an Erasmus Mundus Fellow of the European Wind Energy Masters Degree program (2012-2014), the Otto Mønsted Guest Professor at the Danish Technical University in 2015, an Affiliate Professor of the Wind Energy Department at the Danish Technical University and a Fulbright Fellow in 2018. She currently leads research projects funded by the European Union, Department of Energy and National Science Foundation.

Research Interests

Professor Barthelmie’s research is focused on wind energy resources and wind turbine wakes within and downwind of large wind farms both on- and offshore. In Denmark, she ran the offshore wind energy network and she was involved in the development of many offshore wind farms. In the US, her focus has been wind energy resources and impacts of wakes and their interaction with the boundary-layer within large wind farms. Her research involves measurements, particularly the application of remote sensing including lidar, modeling and data analysis of large wind farm data sets.

Selected Research Projects

  • 2020-2022 Reducing LCoE from offshore wind by multiscale wake modeling .P.I.: Barthelmie, R.J. and Pryor, S.C. NYSERDA/DOE
  • 2019-2023 A framework for improving analysis and modeling of Earth system and intersectoral dynamics at regional scales P.I.: Ulrich, P. et al. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research
  • 2016-2020 A hierarchical evaluation framework for assessing climate simulations relevant to the energy-water-land nexus P.I.: Gutowski, W., U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science.
  • 2011-2016 An integrated approach to offshore wind energy assessment: Great Lakes 3D Wind Experiment P.I.: Barthelmie, R.J., Pryor, S.C. and partners. Department of Energy
  • 2011-2016 Multiple wake interactions in large wind farms P.I.: Barthelmie, R.J. & Pryor, S.C. National Science Foundation: Energy for Sustainability
  • 2010-2015 Climate change impacts on regional wind climates, P.I.: Pryor, S.C., Barthelmie, R.J. and Schoof, J.T., National Science Foundation
  • 2006-2011 UPWind Integrated Project, P.I.: Hjuler Jensen, P., Frandsen, S.T. (Risø) & 38 partners. RJB Workpackage leader of WP8: Flow. European Commission: Energy and Environment

Selected Publications

  • Pryor, S.C., Barthelmie, R.J. and Shepherd, T. 2020: 20% of US electricity from wind: Impacts on system efficiency and regional climate, Nature Scientific Reports, 10, 541. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57371-1.
  • Shepherd, T.J., Barthelmie, R.J. and Pryor, S.C. 2020: Sensitivity of wind turbine array downstream effects to the parameterization used in WRF, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0135.1.
  • Pryor, S.C., Shepherd, T.J., Volker, P. and A.N. Hahmann, and Barthelmie, R.J. 2020: ‘Wind theft’ from onshore arrays: Sensitivity to wind farm parameterization and resolution, Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, 59, 153-174 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0235.1.
  • Barthelmie, R.J. and Pryor, S.C. 2019: Automated wind turbine wake characterization in complex terrain, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12(6), 3463-3484.
  • Letson, F., Barthelmie, R.J., Hu, W. and Pryor, S.C. 2019: Characterizing Wind Gusts in Complex Terrain, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 19, 3797–3819.
  • Pryor, S.C., Barthelmie, R.J. and Shepherd, T. 2018: Inter-annual variability of wind climates and wind turbine annual energy production, Wind Energy Science, 3, 651-665.
  • Barthelmie, R.J. and Pryor, S.C. 2018: The impact of wind direction yaw angle on cliff flows, Wind Energy, 21, 1254–1265 doi.org/10.1002/we.2227.
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Doubrawa, P. Wang, H., Giroux, G., Pryor, S.C. 2016: Effects of an escarpment on flow parameters of relevance to wind turbines, Wind Energy.
  • Wang, H., Barthelmie, R.J., Pryor, S.C. and Brown, G. (2015) Lidar arc scan uncertainty reduction through scanning geometry optimization, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussion, 8, 10429-10471. doi:10.5194/amtd-8-10429-2015.
  • Doubrawa, P., Barthelmie, R.J. Hasager, C.B., Badger, M., Karagali, I. and Pryor, S.C. 2015: Satellite Winds as a Tool for Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment : The Great Lakes Wind Atlas, Remote Sensing of the Environment, 168, 349-359.
  • Barthelmie R.J. and Pryor S.C. 2014: The potential contribution of wind energy to climate change mitigation. Nature Climate Change, 4, 684-688.
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Crippa, P., Wang, H., Smith, C.M., Krishnamurthy, R., Choukulkar, A., Calhoun, R., Valyou, D., Marzocca, P., Matthiesen, D., Brown, G. and Pryor, S.C. 2014: 3D wind and turbulence characteristics of the atmospheric boundary-layer. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95, 743–756.
  • Barthelmie R.J. and Pryor S.C. 2014: The potential contribution of wind energy to climate change mitigation. Nature Climate Change, 4, 684-688,  DOI: 10.1038/ NCLIMATE2269.
  • Pryor S.C. and Barthelmie R.J. 2014: Hybrid downscaling of wind climates over the eastern USA. Environmental Research Letters. 9 (2014) 024013.
  • Pryor, S.C. and Barthelmie, R.J. 2013: Assessing the vulnerability of wind energy to climate change and extreme events. Climatic Change, Special Issue on “Climate Change, Extremes, and Energy Systems, 121, 79-91.
  • Wang, H., Barthelmie, R.J., Pryor, S.C. and H.G. Kim 2013: A new turbulence model for offshore wind turbine standards, Wind Energy, DOI: 10.1002/we.1654.
  • Smith, C.M., Barthelmie, R.J. and Pryor, S.C. 2013: In situ observations of the influence of a large onshore wind farm on near-surface temperature, turbulence and wind speed profiles. Environmental Research Letters, 8, 034006
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Hansen, K.S. and Pryor, S.C. 2013: Meteorological controls on wind turbine wakes, Marine Energy and Environments. Invited Paper. Special Issue Proceedings of the Institute Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 101(4), 1010-1019.
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Hansen, K.S. and Pryor, S.C. 2013: Meteorological controls on wind turbine wakes, Marine Energy and Environments. Invited Paper. Special Issue Proceedings of the Institute Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 101(4), 1010-1019.
  • Hansen, K.S., Barthelmie, R.J., Jensen, L.E. and Sommer. A. 2012: The impact of turbulence intensity and atmospheric stability on power deficits due to wind turbine wakes at Horns Rev wind farm, Wind Energy, 15(1), 183.196. DOI: 10.1002/we.512
  • Pryor, S.C. and Barthelmie, R.J. 2011: Assessing climate change impacts on wind resources. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2, 2011. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1019388108.
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Pryor, S.C., Frandsen, S.T., Hansen, K.S., Schepers, J.G., Rados, K., Schlez, W., Neubert, A., Jensen, L.E. and Neckelmann, S. 2010: Quantifying the impact of wind turbine wakes on power output at offshore wind farms. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 27(8), 1302-1317. doi: 10.1175/2010JTECHA1398.1
  • Barthelmie, R.J. and Jensen, L.E. 2010: Evaluation of power losses due to wind turbine wakes at the Nysted offshore wind farm, Wind Energy, 13, 573–586, DOI: 10.1002/we.408.
  • Barthelmie, R.J., Frandsen, S.T., Nielsen, N.M., Pryor, S.C., Rethore, P.E. and H.E. Jørgensen, 2007: Modelling and measurements of power losses and turbulence intensity in wind turbine wakes at Middelgrunden offshore wind farm, Wind Energy doi: 10.1002/we.238. 10, 217-228.