SAR-Satellite for Offshore and Coastal Wind Resource Analysis, with Examples from St. Lawrence Gulf, Canada

Abstract

This paper illustrates the benefits of using remote sensing methodology as an intermediate step to assess offshore and coastal wind resources. Results are based on an ongoing research to understand wind patterns in the St-Lawrence Gulf. This area combines two advantages for wind power development in Canada: a) very good wind, b) high potential of the large scale integration of wind power with the hydro-wind concept. Advantages and drawbacks of satellite techniques in such a complex environment are reviewed. Our approach of satellite data selection for dominant wind conditions reduces the weakness of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite temporal resolution. Wind fields are extracted from sixteen scenes provided by RADARSAT-1. Results are compared with two main sources: in situ measurements and QuickSCAT scatterometer computations. Among interesting findings, it appears that a relative small sample of scenes can already indicates the best wind sites to be investigated for further analysis. The proposed approach to obtain a global wind map of the gulf and the advantages of such high-resolution wind maps to wind resource assessment are discussed.