Coastal zone wind energy. Part III: a procedure to determine the wind power potential of the coastal zone

Abstract

A stepwise procedure is presented for determining the seasonal and/or annual mean potential wind power density for any location on the East and Gulf coasts of the United States. The steps include reference to the dominant wind regimes and mean power densities already obtained to estimate the wind power potential of the location under consideration; methods to calculate the potential wind power distributions and steps to be taken to locate the best site in the area of interest. The method can be best applied where the atmospheric systems which produce most of the wind energy at the surface are relatively persistent. The method is least successful in areas where the wind field is highly variable. Application of the complete method requires the use of an existing two- or three-dimensional mesoscale numerical model.