Abstract
In order to achieve France’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the French Polynesian administration has set the objective of producing 100% of the local electricity requirements from renewable energy resources. To this end, we present the wind characteristics at six selected locations in Tahiti. Surface wind observations from 2008 to 2020 obtained from the Meteorological Service of French Polynesia are analysed in terms of wind speed, dominant wind direction and power density to identify the most suitable locations for the deployment of wind farms. The Weibull distribution is used to fit the wind speed data recorded at 10 m above ground level, as it is widely used by turbine manufacturers. Then, wind speed is extrapolated vertically up to the hub height with the power law, which is also commonly used in wind energy studies. The theoretical annual energy output and capacity factor of four selected commercial wind turbines are assessed for each site in order to provide stakeholders with the relevant information regarding wind energy harvesting in Tahiti. Power law indices lower than 0.2 were chosen. Our results show that all year round, two sites, Faaa and Tautira, are suitable to host wind turbines, even with a power law index as low as 0.1.
Highlights
Increasing energy demand, rapidly decreasing fossil fuel stocks and environmental issues have led to the increasing use of alternative energy resources, such as solar and wind power, for electricity generation in the Pacific island territories.In Tahiti, the proportion of electricity produced from renewable energy resources is relatively high: 30.2% in 2018, primarily from hydropower (25%) and secondly from photovoltaic sources (5.2%) [1]
Wind energy potential was investigated in Tahiti using a 5–13 year-long data set comprising hourly values of wind data at 10 m above ground level
The Vergnet turbine, commonly used in other Pacific islands and having a foldable system, which is useful during tropical cyclones, does not show convincing Capacity Factor (CF) values
Summary
Increasing energy demand, rapidly decreasing fossil fuel stocks and environmental issues have led to the increasing use of alternative energy resources, such as solar and wind power, for electricity generation in the Pacific island territories. The second island, Rurutu, located in the Australs archipelago, with two 60 kW wind turbines, produced around 10% of the electricity needs from 1991 to 2008 [8]. The wind farms generally failed in French Polynesia because of bad management and a lack of funds, but poor wind potential is not necessarily the cause of these failures. Another reason is the obvious lack of knowledge on wind power ramp events [10]. This study provides for the first time an assessment of the wind energy potential in Tahiti, together with a comparison of the performance of selected small commercial wind turbines, which could be appropriate in a domestic wind farm.
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