Wind Resource Evaluation Research Articles

Repowering feasibility of Indian wind energy sector: A case study

Repowering wind farms entails upgrading or replacing old turbines with more efficient, capable, and profitable ones. This technique has the potential to boost energy production, improve grid integration, and lower operational costs. Repowering also makes use of the most recent breakthroughs in wind energy technology, ensuring that wind farms stay economically viable and contribute to the growth of renewable energy. The majority of the wind farms that are located in India were constructed in early 2000, and their capacity ratings range from 200 kW to 800 kW. The lifespans of these wind farms have finally come to an end. Repowering wind farms is a viable alternative in these regions due to the significant wind capacity that exists there. In order to find the wind potential in the site wind resource assessment is needed. This paper proposes a repowering scheme for the existing wind farm located in Kayathar, Tamil Nadu. The reduction in power loss due to the wake effect in the existing wind farm is analyzed using WAsP software and repowering scheme is proposed to increase the Annual Energy Production (AEP), Capacity Utilisation Factor (CUF). The Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) is utilized in order to carry out the site’s wind resource evaluation. After the wind resource assessment, individual turbine wake loss is identified, and the viability of repowering the wind farm by raising the hub height of high wake-affected turbines was investigated. Another repowering study is also carried out by installing high-capacity turbines in place of the existing turbines.

Assessment of wind resource considering local turbulence based on data acquisition with SODAR

This work presents a new methodology to evaluate the influence of wind speed data corrections in the fit of the Weibull distribution. Corrections are made for data measured by Sonic Detection and Ranging (SODAR) and MERRA-2 base data. SODAR data are corrected through Turbulence Intensity (TI). The MERRA-2 data correction uses National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) weather station data to find a local scale factor. The results showed that the corrected data present a better fit in the Weibull distribution and evidence that corrections are necessary when wind speed averages are used to evaluate the wind resource. Wind speed data were also applied to simulate the energy production by a commercial turbine to demonstrate the contrast in the total energy generated. The new methodology shows that IT must be considered in the evaluation of wind resources.

Offshore wind resource assessment by characterizing weather regimes based on self-organizing map

As offshore wind power is continuously integrated into the electric power systems in around the world, it is critical to understand its variability. Weather regimes (WRs) can provide meteorological explanations for fluctuations in wind power. Instead of relying on traditional large-scale circulation WRs, this study focuses on assessing the dependency of wind resources on WRs in the tailored region clustered based on the finer spatial scale. For this purpose, we have applied self-organizing map algorithm to cluster atmospheric circulations over the South China Sea (SCS) and characterized wind resources for the classified WRs. Results show that WRs at mesoscale can effectively capture weather systems driving wind power production variability, especially on multi-day timescale. Capacity factor reconstruction during four seasons illustrates that WRs highly influence most areas in winter and southern part of SCS in summer, and WRs can serve as a critical source of predicting the potential of wind resources. In addition, we further qualify the wind power intermittency and complementarity under different WRs, which have not been assessed associated with WRs. During WRs with changeable atmosphere conditions, the high complementarity over coastal areas can reduce the impact of intermittency on wind power generation. The proposed approach is able to be implemented in any region and may benefit wind resource evaluation and characterization.

Comparative evaluation of wind resources using the computer tool WAPs, case study of Mecheria West Algeria

The aim of this work is to assess the wind potential in the Mecheriaregion, located in Western Algerian Hautes plains that are characterized by an important elevation average between 800m and 1400m, which has a major impact on wind speed acceleration. Using ten years of collected data from 2011 to 2021, the statistical analysis gives an annual mean wind speed equal to 5.6 m/s at 10m hub height above the ground level. Then four main types of wind turbines: NEG-Micon 44/750 kW, Nordex N50/800 kW, Vestas V50/850 kW and PowerWind 56/900 kW. are compared and analyzed using WAsP software to obtain the annual wind characteristics A, k, V and P for each wind turbine and select the most appropriate technology in the study area. Furthermore, an economic analysis was carried out by RETScreen software, to select the turbine that produces low cost and high capacity factors, and the results show that PwerWind 56 turbine is the most suitable one for the selected site.

Method to describe the distribution of wind velocity and its application in wind resource evaluation

AbstractA convenient and effective method based on vector analysis was proposed in this paper to quantitatively describe the pattern of the wind speed distribution curve. This method can accurately describe the steepness of the single‐peak curve by using two parameters of concentration degree (CD) and concentration period (CP). Through the analysis of wind speed data in China over the past 40 years, this paper found that regional wind resources with larger CD were poorer, while regional wind resources with larger CP were richer. In addition, there were obvious cubic relationships between the CP and the average wind power density. These two parameters could reflect the richness of wind energy and realize the comparisons of wind resources across time and scales. In comparison with conventional approaches, this method is simpler and avoids fitting process, which has broad promotion prospects in the field of power grids.

Evaluation of wind resource and mapping during 2009–2018 based on ERA5 reanalysis data: a case study over Algeria

Evaluation of wind resource and mapping during 2009–2018 based on ERA5 reanalysis data: a case study over Algeria

An urban-scale method for building roofs available wind resource evaluation based on aerodynamic parameters of urban sublayer surfaces

• A convenient urban-scale wind resource assessment method was proposed. • A moving grid was proposed to calculate the aerodynamic parameters. • The potential of low-rise buildings in urban areas using wind energy was revealed. • A criterion to assess the wind energy above urban building roofs was developed. For the limited areas of building rooftops, installing wind turbines can increase energy production, as compared to paving over the photovoltaic panels, and can serve as a viable means for complementary power generation. However, a concise criterion for estimating the availability of wind energy in the built environment is lacking. In this work, the aerodynamic parameters method was integrated with a moving grid of a semicircle with a radius of 500 m to develop an urban-scale wind energy evaluation model. The wind energy utilisation potential of buildings’ rooftops in a given city (in this case, Hangzhou) was estimated. The results show that a certain portion of low-rise buildings has considerable available wind resources. By statistical analysis of the millions of calculated results, two criteria for rooftop's wind resources assessment have been developed. Compared with the buildings in a previously planned region having small spacing and low average height characteristics, the buildings of the newly planned region were spacious, resulting in its suitability for wind energy utilisation proportion being 10.2% higher. Besides, the proportion of residential buildings that are suitable for wind use is higher than that of public buildings and industrial buildings, for the average height difference.

Comparative Performance of a Hybrid Renewable Energy Generation System with Dynamic Load Demand

This article presents the modeling and simulation of a hybrid generation system, which uses solar energy generation, wind energy, and the regulation of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) cell to raise the demanded load, empowering the use of these hydride systems worldwide. This generation system was simulated for different locations in Puerto Bolivar (Colombia), Bremen (Germany), Beijing (China), and Texas (USA), for two demand profiles. The data used for the simulation was calculated using the mathematical solar model proposed by Beistow and Campbell for solar radiation. In contrast, for the wind resource evaluation, the Weibull probability distribution was used to calculate the most probable wind speed for each day, according to the historical data for each of the studied locations. Considering these data, the process transfer functions were used for tuning the control parameters for the hydrogen and oxygen production system. For the evaluation of the performance of these controllers, the indices of the absolute value of the error (IAE), the integral of the square of the error (ISE), the integral of the absolute value of the error for time (ITAE), and the integral of the square of the error for time (ITSE) were used. It was found that in the second load profile studied, better performance of the ITSE performance parameter was obtained, with stabilization times lower than those of the first profile.

Applying Satellite Data Assimilation to Wind Simulation of Coastal Wind Farms in Guangdong, China

With the development of the wind power industry in China, accurate simulation of near-surface wind plays an important role in wind-resource assessment. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models have been widely used to simulate the near-surface wind speed. By combining the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model with the Three-dimensional variation (3DVar) data assimilation system, our work applied satellite data assimilation to the wind resource assessment tasks of coastal wind farms in Guangdong, China. We compared the simulation results with wind speed observation data from seven wind observation towers in the Guangdong coastal area, and the results showed that satellite data assimilation with the WRF model can significantly reduce the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and improve the index of agreement (IA) and correlation coefficient (R). In different months and at different height layers (10, 50, and 70 m), the Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE) can be reduced by a range of 0–0.8 m/s from 2.5–4 m/s of the original results, the IA can be increased by a range of 0–0.2 from 0.5–0.8 of the original results, and the R can be increased by a range of 0–0.3 from 0.2–0.7 of the original results. The results of the wind speed Weibull distribution show that, after data assimilation was used, the WRF model was able to simulate the distribution of wind speed more accurately. Based on the numerical simulation, our work proposes a combined wind resource evaluation approach of numerical modeling and data assimilation, which will benefit the wind power assessment of wind farms.

Wind energy development and wildlife conservation in Lithuania: A mapping tool for conflict assessment.

The paper presents a mapping tool aiming to identify and minimise potential conflicts between onshore wind energy development and wildlife conservation in Lithuania. It merges current information on the distribution, conservation status and sensitivity of birds and bats to wind power with an integrated evaluation of wind resources (modelled wind speed), special planning status and technical perspectives of wind energy development. The paper includes assessment of the selected wildlife species which were described as sensitive to wind power (69 breeding and 43 migratory bird species and 17 bat species bats in the country). Used species level information allowed the precise identification of sensitive territories and might be used to mitigate negative wind farm effects using special measures based on species behavior. Finally, we delivered overlaps as possible conflicts among the most promising wind farm areas and the areas with high sensitivity in relation to bird and bat distribution. These overlaps point to the required attention and relevant decisions that are needed to ensure sustainable development of wind energy throughout the country. We suggest this tool for initial determination of appropriate areas for wind energy development in the country and as supplement to Environmental Impact Assessment.

Evaluation of an Offshore Wind Farm by Using Data from the Weather Station, Floating LiDAR, Mast, and MERRA

Offshore wind energy is regarded as a key alternative to fossil fuels in many parts of the world. Its exploitation is based on the sound evaluation of wind resources. This study used data from a meteorological mast, a floating light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device, and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, a reanalysis data set established by the NASA Center for Climate Simulation, to evaluate wind resources of the Changhua-South Offshore Wind Farm. The average wind speeds evaluated at a height of 105 m in the studied wind farm were 7.97 and 8.02 m/s according to the data obtained from the floating LiDAR device and a mast, respectively. The full-load hours were 3320.5 and 3296.5 h per year when data from the LiDAR device and mast were used, respectively. The estimated annual energy production (AEP) with a probability of 50% (P50) reached 314 GWh/y, whereas the AEPs with a probability of 75% (P75) and with a probability of 90% (P90) were 283 GWh/y and 255 GWh/y, respectively. The estimated AEP of P75 was 90% of the AEP of P50, whereas the estimated AEP of P90 was 81% of the AEP of P50. This difference might need to be considered when assessing the risk of financing a wind project.

Evaluation of Wind Resources and the Effect of Market Price Components on Wind-Farm Income: A Case Study of Ørland in Norway

This paper aims to present a detailed analysis of the performance of a wind-farm using the wind turbine power measurement standard IEC61400-12-1 (2017). Ten minutes averaged wind data are obtained from LIDAR over the period of twelve months and it is compared with the 38 years’ data from weather station with the objective of determining the wind resources at the wind-farm. The performance of one of the wind turbines located in the wind-farm is assessed by comparing the wind power potential of the wind turbine with its actual power production. Our analysis shows that the wind farm under study is rated as ‘good’ in terms of wind power production and has wind power density of 479 W/m2. The annual wind-farm’s income is estimated based on the real-data collected from the wind turbines. The effect of price of electricity and the spot prices of Norwegian-Swedish green certificate on the income will be illustrated by means of a Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach. Our study provides a different perspective of wind resource evaluation by analyzing LIDAR measurements using Windographer and combines it with the lesser explored effects of price components on the income using statistical tools.

Diurnal cycle RANS simulations applied to wind resource assessment

AbstractMicroscale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models can be used for wind resource assessment on complex terrains. These models generally assume neutral atmospheric stratification, an assumption that can lead to inaccurate modeling results and to large uncertainties at certain sites. We propose a methodology for wind resource evaluation based on unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier‐Stokes (URANS) simulations of diurnal cycles including the effect of thermal stratification. Time‐dependent boundary conditions are generated by a 1D precursor to drive 3D diurnal cycle simulations for a given geostrophic wind direction sector. Time instants of the cycle representative of four thermal stability regimes are sampled within diurnal cycle simulations and combined with masts time series to obtain the wind power density (WPD). The methodology has been validated on a complex site instrumented with seven met masts. The WPD spatial distribution is in good agreement with observations with the mean absolute error improving 17.1% with respect to the neutral stratification assumption.

A comprehensive evaluation of the wind resource characteristics to investigate the short term penetration of regional wind power based on different probability statistical methods

Abstract In the current analysis, an attempt has been made, for the first time in its kind, to perform a comprehensive evaluation of wind resource through employing various statistical approaches. An extensive analysis of 46 probability methods has suggested the Wakeby outperforming other distribution functions in terms of compatibility among the actual and predicted wind data. Another challenging phase of the research was performed with a motivation to study the vertical wind shear profile based on two extrapolation methods, power and logarithmic laws. The estimated wind speed at the 80 m height was ranged from 5.58 to 12.24 m/s with an annual mean wind speed of 7.72 m/s. Through using the power law, the Gumbel distribution function, and Harris algorithm, the probability analysis for extreme wind events at higher altitudes was also performed, which led to the 50-year extreme wind speed being 44.262 m/s indicating a low risk of potential damages from the wind storms in the studied area. Extensive analysis of the wind resource characteristics such as seasonal wind speed profiles, the intensity and direction of regional wind turbulence, together with graphical distribution of wind resource highlighted a strong potential of using wind for power production in the investigated region.

Anemometer Positioning Optimization for Flow Field Calculation in Wind Farm

AbstractIn a wind farm, the wind data of the anemometers are used to evaluate the local wind resource. The position of the anemometer in a wind farm influences the wind resource evaluation signific...

A wind resource assessment at Aħrax Point: A node for central Mediterranean offshore wind resource evaluation

This article presents salient results from wind measurements conducted by the Malta Resources Authority at Aħrax Point on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The measurement exercise had the primary aim of enabling a better assessment of wind conditions in the near shore offshore environment, more specifically on an offshore reef known as Is-Sikka l-Bajda. The 80 metre wind monitoring mast installed at Aħrax Point generated data from various sensors at multiple monitoring levels and the analysis presented here divulges key parameters derived from this scientific study. The region lacks measured offshore wind data and the islands’ position in the central Mediterranean makes such a data bank useful for offshore wind resource assessments, as well as for comparison with results generated by mesoscale meteorological models. This study investigates wind behaviour at Aħrax Point as a multi-level measurement node and the results are also compared to a re-analysis dataset in order to establish similarities or deviations of specific wind parameters.

The Potential of Wind for Energy Production and Water Pumping in Iran, Saravan County

Sustainable sources of energy are vital for energy production inremote areas which have difficult access to electricity and grid. Thus,in this paper an initial evaluation of wind resource for over 18 monthswas done to evaluate the potential of wind energy as a power genera -tion source in a remote village in Saravan county, southeastern Iran.The Weibull distribution is employed to model the wind data at threeheights: 10, 30 and 40 meters. The Weibull distribution presented in thisstudy indicates a good compatibility with the measured wind data. Dif-ferent wind speed parameters such as monthly and diurnal wind speedprofiles at different heights, wind direction, turbulence intensity, andetc. have been estimated and analyzed. The results showed the studiedsite has not the sufficient wind speed and power for development ofcommercial wind power plants. But the studied site may be suitablefor development of small and residential wind turbines. Therefore inthe next part of study, energy production of different small wind tur -bines has been estimated. It was concluded that one of the small windturbines which has the highest net energy production of 33,685 kWh/yr and highest capacity factor of 25.6% can be suitable for non-grid con-nected electrical and mechanical applications, such as local consump -tion, battery charging, and water pumping. In the last phase of study,the water pumping potential of the studied area has been investigated.

The Potential of Wind for Energy Production and Water Pumping in Iran, Saravan County

ABSTRACTSustainable sources of energy are vital for energy production in remote areas which have difficult access to electricity and grid. Thus, in this paper an initial evaluation of wind resource for over 18 months was done to evaluate the potential of wind energy as a power generation source in a remote village in Saravan county, southeastern Iran. The Weibull distribution is employed to model the wind data at three heights: 10, 30 and 40 meters. The Weibull distribution presented in this study indicates a good compatibility with the measured wind data. Different wind speed parameters such as monthly and diurnal wind speed profiles at different heights, wind direction, turbulence intensity, and etc. have been estimated and analyzed. The results showed the studied site has not the sufficient wind speed and power for development of commercial wind power plants. But the studied site may be suitable for development of small and residential wind turbines. Therefore in the next part of study, energy producti...

Evaluation of Wind Resource in Selected Locations in Gujarat

This paper presents an assessment of wind energy potentials of six selected locations in the Gujarat, India, by using a 19-year (1995-2013) ERA-interim wind speed data subjected to two-parameter Weibull distribution function. The results showed that the annual wind speed at a location of Okha and Motisindholi is having an average of 7.1 m/s and 7.0 m/s respectively, and Sanodar has lowest annual wind speed of 3.8 m/s. The maximum and minimum average wind power density and energy are 280.55W/m2, 2469 kWh/m2/year at Okha and 54.51W/m2, 479 kWh/m2/year at Sanodar respectively. Furthermore, Okha and Motisindholi are suitable for the wind turbine applications where as Jafrabad, Veraval and Dandi can be considered for marginal wind power development development based on their respective annual mean wind speeds and power densities.

An extensive evaluation of wind resource using new methods and strategies for development and utilizing wind power in Mah-shahr station in Iran

In this study, the 10-min period measured short-term wind speed data at 10m and 40m heights for Mah-shahr station in Iran was statistically analyzed to determine the potential of wind power generation. In addition in this paper different distribution functions are compared to each other in order to find the best distribution in Mah-shahr which is compatible with the wind data. It is found that the Weibull distribution is the best function to model the wind data in Mah-shahr. It should also be mentioned that the different methods for calculating Weibull parameters were used and compared to each other. Moreover an extreme analysis of wind data in Mah-shahr was carried out to determine the maximum gust wind speed over a 50-year return period (Ve50). Using the method of “periodic maxima” for analysis of extreme winds, it was revealed that the 50-year wind speed at 80m in Mah-shahr which is 39.5m/s is lower than usual values of Ve50 limits for different wind turbines. This means that the risk of extreme wind gusts in Mah-shahr might not be a problem for installation of wind turbines. From the primary evaluation of wind data in Mah-shahr it is found the studied site has an acceptable potential of wind power for electricity generation. Energy production of different wind turbines at different heights is determined. Then a simple economic evaluation carried out to determine whether studied site is suitable for development of commercial or small and residential wind turbines. It became clear that the “Nordex N100/2500” with a rated power of 2500kW has the lowest price of electricity and has a high level of capacity factor. Thus in the second phase of the study an extensive economic evaluation of installing 10MW wind park using 4 Nordex N100/2500 wind turbines was performed on the RETScreen® international simulation software. For this purpose, four main scenarios have been taken into consideration. It was revealed that in the second scenario by assumption of the new proposed feed-in-tariff rate (4400 rials), the return period of investment was significantly reduced. It has been demonstrated that the government’s new policy for increasing the feed-in-tariff rate has been very effective for improving the financial viability of the proposed wind farm. In the final steps, effects of the clean development strategies have been taken into account.