Evaluation of annual radiation and windiness over a playa: possibility of harvesting the solar and wind energies

Abstract

We set up an automatic weather station over a playa (the flat floor of an undrained desert basin that becomes at times a shallow lake), approximately 65 km east–west by 130 km north–south, located at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (40°08′N, 113°27′W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in north-western Utah, U.S.A., in 1999. This station measured the incoming ( R si) and outgoing ( R so) solar or shortwave radiation using two CM21 Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming ( R li or atmospheric) and outgoing ( R lo or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two CG1 KippZonen pyrgeometers (one inverted), and the net ( R n) radiation using a Q*7 net radiometer (Radiation Energy Balance System, REBS). We also measured the 10-m wind speed ( U 10) and direction (R.M. Young wind monitor) and precipitation (Campbell Sci., Inc.). The measurements were taken every 2 s, averaged into 20-min, continuously, throughout the year. The annual (August 1999 – August 2000) comparisons of global or solar radiation and windiness with two other stations in central (Hunter) and northern (Logan) Utah, indicate higher solar radiation ( R si,Dugway=7797 MJ m −2 period −1 vs. R si, Hunter=7021 MJ m −2 period −1 and R si, Logan=6865 MJ m −2 period −1) and much higher annual mean windiness ( U Dugway=387 km day −1 vs. U Hunter=275 km day −1 and U Logan=174 km day −1) throughout the period over the playa. These data reveal the possibility of simultaneously harvesting these two sources of clean energies at this vast and uniform playa.