Wind Energy Resource Potential Research Articles

Formation mechanism and development potential of wind energy resources on the Tibetan plateau

It is important to understand whether the wind energy resources on the Tibetan Plateau have power potential suitable for development. To this end, we conducted sodar wind measurement experiments in areas of typical terrain, analyzed radiosonde and surface meteorological observations, and performed mesoscale numerical model simulations to study the characteristics and formation mechanisms, and to assess the technical potential, of the wind energy resources on the Tibetan Plateau. Results showed that the wind energy resources on the Tibetan Plateau are very abundant and of high quality with enormous development potential. The total technical potential of the wind energy resources at 100-m height above ground level is 1.02 billion kW, accounting for 26 % of the total technical potential of China's wind energy resources. The technical potential of the wind energy resources at very rich and rich levels accounts for 63 % of the total. The strengthening effect of the superposition of valley wind circulations and the synoptic-scale background wind field is the fundamental formation mechanism of the abundant wind energy resources on the Tibetan Plateau.

Research on Wind Turbine Location and Wind Energy Resource Evaluation Methodology in Port Scenarios

Wind energy is widely distributed in China as a renewable energy source. Aiming to alleviate the issues resulting from fossil fuel consumption faced by developing and developed countries (e.g., climate change) and to meet development needs, this study innovatively proposed methods for the location selection of wind farms and wind turbines in port areas based on the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Considering that the wind turbine location is crucial to wind power generation, this paper focuses on locating wind turbines within a specific set of sea ports. The primary objectives of this paper are to evaluate the potential of wind power generation under different port scenarios and develop a method for assessing the potential of wind energy resources in wind farm areas. Firstly, a method is proposed for identifying the boundaries of wind farms in the port areas and locating wind turbines at sea ports. Furthermore, this study used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) wind speed database to test the proposed method with the real-world wind power projects of the Ports of Tianjin, Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Hainan, which are top ports within five major coastal port clusters in China. It is found that the potential power generation capacity of the wind power farms at the above ports is 30.71 GWh, 19.82 GWh, 16.72 GWh, 29.45 GWh, and 24.42 GWh, respectively. Additionally, sensitive results for different types of wind turbines are conducted in the following experiment. The results of this study are fundamental for enriching the research of evaluating wind energy resources of sea ports and promoting the development and use of clean energy in practical environments. Further, the method proposed in this study is essential for optimizing the location and construction of wind turbines, which may help ports in adopting a low-carbon and green development path, thereby mitigating air pollution, and promoting sustainable development.

Analytical Performance Estimation of a Fall-Back Inner-Rotor Transverse-Flux Permanent Magnet Generator using Magnetic Equivalent Reluctance Circuit

The potential of wind energy resources is propelled fast and power extraction is increasing considerably due to the development of reliable and cost-effective wind turbine generators. Various permanent magnet (PM) wind generators have been implemented for wind power generation, among which, the conventional transverse-flux permanent magnet generator (TFPMG) is popular due to their higher torque density and simple coil design, but it has some disadvantages in comparison with radial flux PM generator, i.e., higher flux leakages and complex 3D flux pattern. In this article, a fall-back inner rotor transverse-flux PM wind generator FB-TFPMG has been investigated to override the disadvantages of conventional TFPMG. It employs half of the total PMs on the rotor and U-shaped stator cores. An analytical model of the proposed FB-TFPMG has derived using magnetic equivalent reluctance circuit (MERC) to predict the performance of the generator, i.e., flux densities in the air-gap, under aligned and unaligned conditions of rotor PMs with U-shaped stator cores. The results of the MERC model is verified with the results obtained through 3D finite element analysis.

Assessment of wind energy resource potential for future human missions to Mars

Energy sustainability and redundancy for surface habitats, life support systems and scientific instrumentation represent one of the highest-priority issues for future crewed missions to Mars. However, power sources utilized for the current class of robotic missions to Mars may be potentially dangerous near human surface habitats (for example, nuclear) or lack stability on diurnal or seasonal timescales (for example, solar) that cannot be easily compensated for by power storage. Here, we evaluate the power potential for wind turbines as an alternative energy resource on the Mars surface. Using a state-of-the-art Mars global climate model, we analyse the total planetary Martian wind potential and calculate its spatial and temporal variability. We find that wind speeds at some proposed landing sites are sufficiently fast to provide a stand-alone or complementary energy source to solar or nuclear power. While several regions show promising wind energy resource potential, other regions of scientific interest can be discarded based on the natural solar and wind energy potential alone. We demonstrate that wind energy compensates for diurnal and seasonal reductions in solar power particularly in regions of scientific merit in the midlatitudes and during regional dust storms. Critically, proposed turbines stabilize power production when combined with solar arrays, increasing the percent time that power exceeds estimated mission requirements from ~40% for solar arrays alone to greater than 60–90% across a broad fraction of the Mars surface. We encourage additional study aimed at advancing wind turbine technology to operate efficiently under Mars conditions and to extract more power from Mars winds.

An overview on development of policies and barriers for wind energy generation

In the past wind energy is harnessed for attaining some valuable work like grains grinding, water pumping, and even boat sailing over a long-time. However, times have been changed from conventional utilization of wind energy to electricity generation in modern days. Wind energy is believed to be one of the purest kinds of renewable energy. India's wind energy resource potential is estimated to be 102 GW at 80m and 302 GW at 100m of hub height. The immense potential of wind energy which has been kept uninvestigated can be accomplished through fair framed policies. The present paper focused on a comprehensive analysis of the Indian government planning to expand its wind energy business by offering financial incentives and development policies. In this paper, Indian wind energy policies have been intensely analyzed and various barriers to achieving the success of these schemes and programs have been discussed. The summary of the present paper is to reiterate the work carried on the wind energy sector in terms of enhanced fiscal incentives, minimized energy pricing, offshore wind farm prospects, and market growth stability by the Indian government (both central and state).

Assessment of wind energy resources in the urat area using optimized weibull distribution

Accurate assessment and analysis of wind energy resources are the key to wind farm planning. In this study, we evaluate the wind energy resource potential in the Urat area of Inner Mongolia, China, based on data measured from four 70–100 m/s wind tower. We first model the wind speed by the Weibull distribution where the parameters are estimated by various numerical and intelligent optimization methods. In particular, we introduce the Cross Entropy Method (CEM) and find that it outperforms other methods. Based on the Weibull model, we then evaluate six wind energy metrics for the Urat area. It is shown that the annual average wind speed and wind power density are up to 9.33 m/s and 941 W/m2, respectively, with over 7000 h of annual available time. The wind is relative stable for all seasons except for a mild reduction in speed and a change of direction in summer. The low power production cost and rapid payback period make the Urat area a promising location for deploying wind farms.

Gulf Cooperation Council Countries’ Climate Change Mitigation Challenges and Exploration of Solar and Wind Energy Resource Potential

Climate change mitigation is one of the most critical challenges of this century. The unprecedented global effects of climate change are wide-ranging, including changing weather patterns that threaten food production, increased risk of catastrophic floods, and rising sea levels. Adapting to these impacts will be more difficult and costly in the future if radical changes are not made now. This review paper evaluates the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ potential for solar and wind energy resources to meet climate change mitigation requirements and assesses the ability of the GCC region to shift towards low-carbon technologies. The review demonstrates that the GCC region is characterized by abundant solar energy resources. The northwestern, southeastern, and western mountains of the region are highlighted as locations for solar energy application. Oman displays the highest onshore wind speed range, 3–6.3 m s⁻1, and has the highest annual solar radiation of up to 2500 kWh/m2. Kuwait has the second highest onshore wind speed range of 4.5–5.5 m s⁻1. The western mountains and northwestern Saudi Arabia have a wind speed range of 3–6 m s⁻1. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the second highest annual solar radiation, 2285 kWh/m2, while Saudi Arabia and the state of Kuwait have equal annual solar radiation at 2200 kWh/m2. This review demonstrates that abundant offshore wind energy resources were observed along the coastal areas of the Arabian Gulf, as well as a potential opportunity for wind energy resource development in the Red Sea, which was characterized by high performance. In addition, the GCC countries will not be able to control and address the interrelated issues of climate change in the future if they do not eliminate fossil fuel consumption, adhere to the Paris Agreement, and implement plans to utilize their natural resources to meet these challenges.

Land use and turbine technology influences on wind potential in the United States

As clean energy ambitions have expanded, critically evaluating renewable energy supply has become increasingly important to the energy research community and stakeholders. This study examines the onshore wind resource potential for the conterminous United States and its sensitivity to siting constraints and turbine technology innovation. We compile localized regulatory information and use high-resolution data to present multiple siting regimes covering relatively constrained to unconstrained potentials. Our efforts reveal high sensitivity to these variables and sizable uncertainty in the overall wind energy resource potential. Specifically, we find that siting constraints may shift the total capacity available to commercial wind energy by 2.3–15.1 TW. Furthermore, our results illustrate that technology advancement could require larger setbacks from buildings and infrastructure, reducing the total available capacity potential by 20% relative to estimates using current technology, but that this reduction is largely offset by increased generation such that the net effect on generation is 1%. The observed sensitivity to and uncertainty resulting from the variables we analyze suggest there is value in continued study and development of increasingly sophisticated approaches to characterizing wind resource potential.

Assessment of the Potential of Wind Energy Resources in Southern Iraq

Для увеличения в мировом энергетическом комплексе доли возобновляемой альтернативной энергетики и сокращения потребления традиционных топливных энергетических ресурсов необходимо проводить исследования потенциала возобновляемой энергетики в развивающихся странах. Эти государства сильно зависимы от импорта энергетических установок и технологий. В результате они недостаточно развивают свой энергокомплекс за счет использования альтернативной энергетики. Это происходит в том числе из-за недостаточного прогнозирования и оценки потенциала возобновляемых энергоресурсов на своей территории. Возобновляемые источники энергии призваны играть большую роль в сокращении выбросов с использованием альтернативных источников электроэнергии, таких как энергия ветраПроведено исследование данных о скорости ветра в различных районах Ирака. Данные показывают, что город Алхай, где фиксировались средние значения скорости ветра по годам, расположенный на юге Ирака, идеально подходит для создания проектной ветровой электростанции благодаря тому, что скорость ветра здесь является приемлемой. Также были разработаны и рассчитаны мощности и энергия, которые могут быть получены от ветроэнергетической установки.Результаты исследования показали, что предлагаемая система ветроэнергетики является хорошим выбором и может быть внедрена в Алхае для получения достаточного количества электроэнергии для городов Ирака. Распространение проектов по возобновляемой энергии сегодня во многом зависит от смелости и решимости лиц, принимающих решения в Ираке.

Potential of wind energy resources around Nasawana village in Nabouwalu, Vanua Levu, Fiji

Fiji is located in the South Western part of the Pacific between latitude 18° S and longitude 179° E. In 2018, Fiji has spent approximately FJD 800 million in importing fossil fuel to meet the rising energy demand in the country. In the previous year’s several solar PV and wind resource assessments has been done and results obtained indicated that there is a potential for grid connected electricity generation using recommended resources. This study was carried out in the Nasawana Village (16°55.3 S and 178°47.4 E) to determine the options to use electricity derived from the wind. Wind analysis was carried out using Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) that predicted the wind speed of 6.96 ms−1 and a power density of 256 Wm−2 at 55 m a.g.l. The annual energy production predicted for a single wind turbine (Vergnet 275 kW) is approximately 631.6 MWh with a capacity factor of 26%. The cost of energy per kWh is estimated as FJD 0.10 with a payback period of 7 years.

Wind Resource Assessment for southern part of Libya: Case Study of Hun

The purpose of this study is to analyze the wind energy resource potential at Hun. Wind data was analyzed using diffrent statistical models and calculations were performed to forecast wind energy & power density at the site. Energy production was estimated using diffrent wind turbines which were selected according IEC standards criteria and performance of these wind turbines. Detailed wind resource data analysis was performed for the proposed site using Excel spreadsheet for one-year period from (April 2011 to March 2012). Th wind data are measured at four heights of (20 m, 40m, 60m and 61m) above ground level (a.g.l). Th analysis showed that the annual average wind speed is 5.69 m/s and the power density is about 190 W/m2 at 61m height. It could be noticed that at 61m height, the highest scale parameter is 7.25 m/s in April while the lowest scale parameter is 5.71 m/s in October. Th annual shape and scale parameters range from 2.27 at 61m to 2 at 20m, and from 6.42 m /s at 61m to 5 m /s at 20m, respectively. 90% of the speeds are below 11m/s, 84% are below 10m/s and 50% are above 6 m/s. Th maximum speed is 21 m/s with 0.14% occurrence. Th wind shear exponent was evaluated as 0.18 and the roughness length for the site as 0.17 m, which indicates that the roughness class for the location is 2.5. According to the performed analysis, the wind turbines suitable for this site should be of class III/B. Comparison of three wind turbines indicated that Vestas V112-3000 gave the highest capacity factor of 42% in April and an availability of 83% while Nordex N100- 2500 gave capacity factor of 41% for the same month and availability of 83.7%.

Wind Resource Assessment for southern part of Libya: Case Study of Hun

The purpose of this study is to analyze the wind energy resource potential at Hun. Wind data was analyzed using different statistical models and calculations were performed to forecast wind energy & power density at the site. Energy production was estimated using different wind turbines which were selected according IEC standards criteria and performance of these wind turbines. Detailed wind resource data analysis was performed for the proposed site using Excel spreadsheet for one-year period from (April 2011 to March 2012). The wind data are measured at four heights of (20 m, 40m, 60m and 61m) above ground level (a.g.l). The analysis showed that the annual average wind speed is 5.69 m/s and the power density is about 190 W/m2 at 61m height. It could be noticed that at 61m height, the highest scale parameter is 7.25 m/s in April while the lowest scale parameter is 5.71 m/s in October. The annual shape and scale parameters range from 2.27 at 61m to 2 at 20m, and from 6.42 m /s at 61m to 5 m /s at 20m, respectively. 90% of the speeds are below 11m/s, 84% are below 10m/s and 50% are above 6 m/s. The maximum speed is 21 m/s with 0.14% occurrence. The wind shear exponent was evaluated as 0.18 and the roughness length for the site as 0.17 m, which indicates that the roughness class for the location is 2.5. According to the performed analysis, the wind turbines suitable for this site should be of class III/B. Comparison of three wind turbines indicated that Vestas V112-3000 gave the highest capacity factor of 42% in April and an availability of 83% while Nordex N100-2500 gave capacity factor of 41% for the same month and availability of 83.7%.

On the Potential Impact of Lake Erie Wind Farms on Water Temperatures and Mixed‐Layer Depths: Some Preliminary 1‐D Modeling Using COHERENS

AbstractLake Erie has a significant wind energy resource potential, with extensive areas of moderate water depth and proximity to major cities and industries with substantial electricity demands. The presence of significant numbers of large turbines in wind farms will lead to reduced wind speeds and wind stresses in the wakes within and downwind of the farms. This in turn will affect surface fluxes, currents, and mixing in lake waters, generally allowing increased surface temperatures and reduced summer time mixed‐layer depths. The potential magnitude of these impacts is investigated with a one dimensional application of the Coupled Hydrodynamical‐Ecological Model for Regional and Shelf Seas model for three different water depths using observed meteorological data as input.

Review of energy systems deployment and development of offshore wind energy resource map at the coastal regions of Africa

The objective of this work is to evaluate the offshore wind conditions at coastal regions for energy resource map development. Thus, the review of installed energy technologies for electricity access across African nations as well as the offshore wind resource distribution for energy development based on satellite observations derived from remote sensing systems is presented. It is believed that ideal location for the electricity generation, renewable energy development and markets could be identified by determining the enormous wind resource distribution at the coastal zones. Thus, 6-hourly surface wind dataset recorded for a period of 2001–2011 across the coasts were proposed for identifying potential turbine sites. Based on the seasonal climate variability, the energy distribution maps of the offshore wind resource at 10 and 160 m heights were assessed from East to South, West and North coasts of Africa. In addition, the validity of satellite observations in processing of CCMP L3.0 wind for energy resource assessment across Africa is investigated. Furthermore, the offshore energy potential of two typical turbine (small- and utility-scale) models is evaluated based on the wind resource variation for these periods. For sustainable energy development, results revealed that the coastal zones possess excellent offshore wind energy resource potential for supporting electricity requirements. Annual and seasonal capacity factors of both small and large-scale turbines across the coastal zone were also assessed, ranging between 17.6 and 51.2%. In the achievement of 2020–2030 energy transition goals from the conventional to clean and diversified energy mix as well as a low carbon society, the studied findings offer useful energy resource information for a sustainable project and increasing penetrations of large-scale wind power on the electric grids across Africa.

Development Potential of Low-speed Wind Energy Resources in China

The development of low-speed wind turbines significantly improved the exploitation amount of wind energy resources. A new method is developed to analyze the development potential of wind energy resources considering the contribution of wind energy technology advancement. The result shows that the technical potential of low-speed wind power in 19 central and southeast provinces of China increased from 300 million to 1 billion kW. Although much more low-speed wind energy resources will become exploitable with the help of low-speed wind turbines, it is noteworthy that the wind shear in the sweeping areas of this region is larger compared to that in mountainous areas.

The Research on Community Energy Potential of Liaobin Coastal Economic Zone

The energy supply characteristics and architectural features in Liaobin coastal economic zone are studied to achieve the energy efficient utilization and the balance of supply and demand in regional energy. The integrated resources planning method is used to analyze the potential of renewable energy and the demand of energy saving. The simulation models were established with DeST software for various buildings. And the simplified method of typical building was used to simplify the simulation models in this area. As shown in the result, the potential of saving energy on demand side is 16%. The planning of natural gas can satisfy the demand for future development to make up the low reliability of the electricity supply. The annual generation capacity at the potential of solar energy resources is 100 kW/m2, while the annual generation capacity at the potential of wind energy resources is 650.9kWh/m2. Biomass resources have great potentials. The potential of geothermal energy resources is 8.2×1018J. The renewable resources and unexploited energy can be used. The advantages of community energy planning on the energy utilization were analyzed. The planning will be developed based on the combination of energy regeneration and building energy saving techniques. And the result of this research will provide theoretical and technical support to the development of the community energy planning in this zone.

A high-resolution mapping of wind energy potentials for Mauritius using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

A wind energy assessment is an integrated analysis of the potential of wind energy resources of a particular area. In this work, the wind energy potentials for Mauritius have been assessed using a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. The approach employed in this work aims to enhance the assessment of wind energy potentials for the siting of large-scale wind farms in the island. Validation of the model is done by comparing simulated wind speed data to experimental ones measured at specific locations over the island. The local wind velocity resulting from the CFD simulations are used to compute the weighted-sum power density including annual directional inflow variations determined by wind roses. The model is used to generate contour maps of velocity and power, for Mauritius at a resolution of 500 m.

A Brief Overview on Assessments of Wind Energy Resource Potential inVietnam

With a coastline of more than 3,000 km and its location in the monsoonal climate zone, Vietnam is expected to have good potential for wind energy resource. In the recent years, several preliminary studies on assessment of potential of wind energy resource in Vietnam have been carried out. The objective of this paper is to draw an updated overall picture on wind energy potential and the current application as well as development of wind energy in Vietnam on the basis of data collected from various sources. The reviewing results showed that Vietnam has better wind energy resource than many other Asian countries. The highest potential areas of wind resource in Vietnam are the south central coast, central highlands, and south coast. However, the development of wind energy is just in the early stage and the application of wind energy is still negligible at present. This paper also identifies the major challenges need to be addressed for the future development of wind energy in Vietnam including those related to lack of the wind measurement and assessment of wind resource, lack of human resource, lack of comprehensive wind energy development planning, and lack of financial supportive mechanism. In order to promote the development and application of wind energy, much more effort need to be put forward in the coming years to overcome these existing challenges.

Availability of wind energy resource potential for power generation at Jos, Nigeria

The objective of this study was to assess the potential viability of the wind resource potential in Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria for power generation. The monthly mean wind speeds that span from 1987 to 2007 were employed to statistically analyze the monthly, annual and seasonal potentials of the wind energy resources at the site. Besides, the results were employed together with two models of wind energy conversion system to simulate the likely average output power. The outcome showed that Jos was suitable as a site for wind farm projects of varying sizes and that MW·h to GW·h of electricity is likely to be produced per period of months, seasons and years. The average wind speed range at the site was also estimated to be between 6.7 and 11.8 m/s across the months, years and seasons.

Wind Energy in China

China is a land with abundant wind resources. According to the latest official release of the national wind energy resource assessment results, 50-m-high wind energy resource potential amounts to about 2,580 GW, of which 2,380 GW is onshore and 200 GW is offshore in the 5-25-m range of water depth. The areas suitable for developing large-scale wind power include Northeast, Northwest, and North China, as well as coastal areas in the provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong, where wind power potential accounts for about 80% of the wind energy resource potential of the whole country, as shown in Figure 1. (This article does not contain the data and information of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region; maps are for illustrative purposes only.).