Seasonal Wind Energy Characterization in the Gulf of Mexico

Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno,Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo,Gerardo Alcalá

doi:10.3390/en13010093

Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, Quetzalcoatl Hernandez-Escobedo + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en13010093

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Abstract

In line with Mexico’s interest in determining its wind resources, in this paper, 141 locations along the states of the Gulf of Mexico have been analyzed by calculating the main wind characteristics, such as the Weibull shape (c) and scale (k) parameters, and wind power density (WPD), by using re-analysis MERRA-2 (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2) data with hourly records from 1980–2017 at a 50-m height. The analysis has been carried out using the R free software, whose its principal function is for statistical computing and graphics, to characterize the wind speed and determine its annual and seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) behavior for each state. As a result, the analysis determined two different wind seasons along the Gulf of Mexico;, it was found that in the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Tabasco wind season took place during autumn, winter, and spring, while for the states of Campeche and Yucatan, the only two states that shared its coast with the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the wind season occurred only in winter and spring. In addition, it was found that by considering a seasonal analysis, more accurate information on wind characteristics could be generated; thus, by applying the Weibull distribution function, optimal zones for determining wind as a resource of energy can be established. Furthermore, a k-means algorithm was applied to the wind data, obtaining three clusters that can be seen by month; these results and using the Weibull parameter c allow for selecting the optimum wind turbine based on its power coefficient or efficiency.

Highlights

Global electricity demand grew 4% in 2018, almost twice than that for 2010, where renewables and nuclear power met most of the growth in demand [1]
One of the most studied atmospheric parameters for decades is the direction of the wind [4]; nowadays this parameter is essential for the installation of a wind farm, where it is important that the wind turbines are not reducing their energy capacity due to poor design [5]
The annual Weibull parameters c and k, WPDF, WPDO, ρ, vm, vmp, and vmaxE were obtained for the 141 MERRA-2 data locations

Summary

Introduction

Global electricity demand grew 4% in 2018, almost twice than that for 2010, where renewables and nuclear power met most of the growth in demand [1]. Energy Association (IRENA) [2], 171 GW were added in 2018 worldwide after a strong growth in the last decade in renewable energy capacity. The total use of all renewables increased by 7.9%, where wind and solar energy contributed 84% of this total, and it is expected that in 2023, this increase for wind and solar energy will be 12.4% and 24%, respectively, in 2030, where the solar photovoltaic and wind power will be key energy sources since they are the energies with the highest growth, with the latter being one of the most profitable sources of energy in the world [3]. In 2017, there was a total electricity consumption of 260,051.895 GWh, out of which, renewables contributed around

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