On the Wind Resource Assessment along the Western Coast of Thailand

Abstract

This paper presents a microscale wind resource mapping along the western coast of Thailand, i.e., Ranong, Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces. A coupled mesoscale atmospheric model and a microscale wind flow model are used along with the long-term Modern-Era Reanalysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) climatic database, a high resolution topography and the Land Cover Land Use (LCLU) digital data. The predicted wind speeds at height of 40 m and 80 m above ground level are validated. The observed wind speeds, obtained from met masts, are compared to the wind speeds predicted by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric modeling. While the validation shows that the measured wind speeds are higher than the predicted mean wind speeds, with an average percent mean relative error of 17%, the results nonetheless show that the wind map can be used to represent the wind resource along the western coast of Thailand. The potential sites for wind power development include Launnuea, Laun, Kamphuan, and Suksamran districts in Ranong province; Thugkhangok, Mueang, Phangnga districts in Phangnga province; Nakhao and Khaophanom districts in Krabi province; as well as Wangprachan and Khuandon districts in Satun province. It is found that the annual energy production that could be generated by a 10 MW wind power plant is approximately 23 GWh/year, 48 GWh/year, 51 GWh/year, 26 GWh/year and 32 GWh/year, respectively, for these provinces. The capacity factors of the wind power plants are above 25% for all sites. Finally, the economic assessment shows that Thailand’s Very Small Power Producer (VSPP) wind power plants at Kamphuan and Thungkhangok districts are viable.