Conference article

Using Meteorological Wind Data to Estimate Turbine Generation Output: A Sensitivity Analysis

M. L. Kubik
Technologies for Sustainable Built Environments, University of Reading, United Kingdom

P. J. Coker
School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, United Kingdom

C. Hunt
AES, Richmond upon Thames, United Kingdom

Download articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp110574074

Published in: World Renewable Energy Congress - Sweden; 8-13 May; 2011; Linköping; Sweden

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 57:4, p. 4074-4081

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Published: 2011-11-03

ISBN: 978-91-7393-070-3

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

Various studies investigating the future impacts of integrating high levels of renewable energy make use of historical meteorological (met) station data to produce estimates of future generation. Hourly means of 10m horizontal wind are extrapolated to a standard turbine hub height using the wind profile power or log law and used to simulate the hypothetical power output of a turbine at that location; repeating this procedure using many viable locations can produce a picture of future electricity generation. However; the estimate of hub height wind speed is dependent on the choice of the wind shear exponent a or the roughness length z0; and requires a number of simplifying assumptions. This paper investigates the sensitivity of this estimation on generation output using a case study of a met station in West Freugh; Scotland. The results show that the choice of wind shear exponent is a particularly sensitive parameter which can lead to significant variation of estimated hub height wind speed and hence estimated future generation potential of a region.

Keywords

Wind shear exponent; Wind profile; Renewable energy; Variability; Intermittency

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