Prospects for the Development of Wind Energy Resources in the Western Sector of the Arctic Zone of Russia

Abstract

The basic elements of the wind energy cadastre of the western sector of Russian Arctic are considered. Distribution of the long-term average wind speeds along the region is shown. Areas with the largest wind potency, which is determined by average annual wind speed of 6–8 m/s, are identified. Wind speed frequency at indicative meteorological stations in the region is estimated, and the flattening of empirical wind distributions is done by using the Weibull density function. The convergence of empirical and analytical distributions is verified. The region wind energy resources are examined. The prerequisites favoring the wind energy successful using, the main of them is the winter wind peak intensity coinciding with the seasonal consumption peak of electrical and thermal energy, are shown. The main directions of possible practical application of wind power plants (WPP) are shown: as part of the electric power systems (systemic wind power engineering), of the electricity supply systems for remote and decentralized consumers, and also of the heat supply systems for Arctic consumers.