Wind energy assessment over the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions

Abstract

The socioeconomic welfare of any country is dependent on its sustainable development besides harmony with nature. The use of sustainable resources such as wind, which is a clean energy and an imperative source of energy in the long run, contributes to the long term ecological balance conserving non‐renewable resources. This study investigates the long term climatological mean wind speed distribution and provides an assessment of wind energy potential for a part of the Indian subcontinent. The wind data at the 10 m level at 12.5 km resolution for the period 1979–2015 are used. The present study is confined to the regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states; the wind energy potential was assessed for all 23 districts of these two states. The wind speed varies remarkably from one location to another depending upon the terrain characteristics and seasonal atmospheric circulation features. The work reviews the degree of consistency of wind speed throughout the 37 year period monthly, seasonally and annually. The European Reanalysis (ERA) Interim wind dataset describes the inordinate predominance of variations observed for each location. The potentiality of the wind energy is well determined using the Weibull probability density function, which provides a good approximation of wind energy assessment. The study further provides the hours per year frequencies of wind speed above 4.5 m/s at each grid of the study region. Wind energy potential was estimated at four different levels below 120 m and the optimized height for wind harnessing is identified as 80 m.