Would there be a point to windfarms in a country surrounding a bay and is also almost fully surrounded by mountain ranges?

Question

To better demonstrate my question, here's a very shoddily made image I made in Photoshop in under five minutes.

Essentially this country is an almost full ring of land with a natural barrier of mountains surrounding it with only one opening that leads into the ocean. While the sheer openness of the bay would allow for high winds to pick up, the ring of mountains would also counteract these winds no? This enclosed country is quite large, with the mountains really only bordering it and not spread throughout.

Answer 1

Mountains, like shores, have breezes, too.

A mountain breeze and a valley breeze are two related, localized winds that occur one after the other on a daily cycle. They are not the same as anabatic and katabatic winds, which are larger and stronger. These winds are opposite from each other. Mountain winds blow from mountain towards valley after sunset, when mountain cools down and valley zone is comparatively warmer. While valley breezes occur when the warm air rises up the sides of the valley, warm air in a mountain breeze will rise up the middle.

At night the air in the high quotes is cooled more than the one in the valley and therefore sinks, producing a wind, while in the morning, when the air warms up, an opposite flow is produced. This is common during the warm season. Proximity to the sea, with the water thermal inertia, would probably amplify this effect.

Additionally it might also happen that the passage to the open sea will behave as a venturi for the air forced in/out of the bay when the mountain breeze happens, resulting in regular winds.

If the turbines are optimized for those kind of winds, it can make sense.

Answer 2

Look at windfarms in Alberta, such as this one:

The prevailing winds come from the west, the direction where those big honking mountains are. The mere existence of mountains will create some windshadow, but not so much that turbines are rendered useless unless you stick them at the bottom of shear cliffs. Indeed, the mountains will generate winds themselves (look up Föhn wind as an example).

Answer 3

In total the mountains will reduce wind a bit in their wind-shadow. But they will also make wind more predictable, by funneling it to specific locations. Total wind is less but harvestable wind for wind-power is more, than without mountains.

Plus, of course, wind increases with altitude, and mountains are all about altitude!

So expect wind farms up on the ridges, and lower down in places where the winds get funneled by the mountains.