A global wind farm potential index to increase energy yields and accessibility

Abstract

The preconditions for wind farm installation and operation are high energy yields and accessibility. However, so far, no attempts were made to develop a global scale index integrating energy yields and accessibility of wind farms. Thus, the goal of this study was to create a universally applicable wind farm potential index that enables finding productive and accessible wind farm sites around the world. The wind farm potential index was developed at a very high horizontal resolution (2000 m × 2000 m) using the Global Wind Speed Model and comprehensive land use data. The wind farm capacity factor's global pattern was estimated based on Kappa and Wakeby distributions, and a generic 3.3 MW wind turbine power curve yielding the resource potential index. The geographical potential index integrates 16 geographical restrictions, including the accessibility to the power grid. The correlation coefficients between the resource potential index and geographical potential index were below 0.10 in many countries (61%). The areas with high resource potential and geographical potential were often divergent, e.g., in areas with poorly developed infrastructure. Applying the new wind farm potential index allows a global, consistent assessment of areas suitable for installing and operating wind farms.