We did talk about this during the AWEC conference. I know nothing about LLJs but was intriegued after C Archer’s talk.
Some takeaways
- LLJs are sometimes fixed in coordinate and over a period of time
- LLJs require detailed data analysis. Older data sets are probably not useful
- LLJs can occur at lower altitudes
- LLJs are changing fast due to global warming
- LLJs are not nice winds, probably would be very rough on a wind turbine
All in all, for me LLJs are below the «not worth it line» for a few of these reasons as of today. Maybe with better analysis tools and already established AWE platforms this could change though.
LLJs would be mostly interesting for mobile AWE in my opinion, and ships seem to be the lowest hanging fruit in that respect.
The extent of the LLJs are important as well. Any single kite AWE turbine would need large wings and thus also large flight patterns. The large scale would be a consequence of having to reach high altitudes. Those would have to fit neatly into the LLJs.
Having an abrupt increase in wind speed though could mean that higher elevation angles could make sense, eg 45 deg rather than 25…
Multi kite AWE is stuff of dreams at this point.