Wind Resource Assessment : A Practical Guide to Developing a Wind Project
[BOOK DESCRIPTION]
This is a practical, authoritative guide to the siting and installation of a high-quality wind energy project, providing analytical methods for assessing the wind resource. The first half of the book describes the several stages of carrying out a wind-monitoring campaign, addressing such topics as worker safety, data security, and advanced remote sensing techlogy. The second describes the assessment methods. It also addresses cutting-edge research topics such as possible impacts of climate change on wind resources and the strengths and weaknesses of various atmospheric modeling approaches. Professionals in industry such as planners, managers, and installers as well as resource analysts, federal program managers, and students will rely on this resource.
[TABLE OF CONTENTS]
Preface xv
1 Introduction 1 (12)
1.1 Where do Winds Come From? 2 (2)
1.2 Key Characteristics of the Wind 4 (2)
1.2.1 The Temporal Dimension 4 (1)
1.2.2 The Spatial Dimension 5 (1)
1.2.3 Other Characteristics of the Wind 6 (1)
Resource
1.3 Wind Power Plants 6 (3)
1.4 Purpose and Organization of this Book 9 (1)
1.5 Questions for Discussion 10 (3)
Suggestions for Further Reading 11 (2)
PART 1 Wind Monitoring 13 (102)
2 Overview of a Wind Resource Assessment 15 (8)
Campaign
2.1 Site Identification 16 (1)
2.2 Resource Monitoring 16 (4)
2.2.1 Wind Monitoring Campaign Design 17 (1)
2.2.2 Measurement Plan 18 (1)
2.2.3 Monitoring Strategy 18 (1)
2.2.4 Quality Assurance Plan 19 (1)
2.3 Wind Resource Analysis 20 (3)
2.3.1 Data Validation 20 (1)
2.3.2 Characterizing the Observed Wind 20 (1)
Resource
2.3.3 Estimating the Hub Height Resource 21 (1)
2.3.4 Climate Adjustment 21 (1)
2.3.5 Wind Flow Modeling 21 (1)
2.3.6 Uncertainty in Wind Resource 21 (1)
Assessment
2.3.7 Project Design and Energy 21 (1)
Production
Suggestions for Further Reading 22 (1)
3 Siting a Wind Project 23 (14)
3.1 Site Selection 23 (2)
3.2 Regional Wind Resource Information 25 (4)
3.2.1 Wind Resource Maps 25 (1)
3.2.2 Wind Measurements 26 (3)
3.3 Field Surveys 29 (1)
3.4 Tower Placement 30 (3)
3.4.1 Dedicated Towers 31 (2)
3.4.2 Existing Multi-Use Tall Towers 33 (1)
3.5 Permitting for Wind Monitoring 33 (1)
3.6 Land Lease Agreements 34 (1)
3.7 Questions for Discussion 35 (2)
Suggestions for Further Reading 36 (1)
4 Monitoring Station Instrumentation and 37 (24)
Measurements
4.1 Basic Measurements 37 (8)
4.1.1 Horizontal Wind Speed 37 (5)
4.1.2 Wind Direction 42 (2)
4.1.3 Air Temperature 44 (1)
4.2 Additional Measurements 45 (4)
4.2.1 Vertical Wind Speed 45 (2)
4.2.2 Heated Anemometers 47 (1)
4.2.3 Delta Temperature 47 (1)
4.2.4 Barometric Pressure 47 (1)
4.2.5 Relative Humidity 48 (1)
4.2.6 Global Solar Radiation 49 (1)
4.3 Recorded Parameters and Sampling 49 (1)
Intervals
4.3.1 Average 49 (1)
4.3.2 Standard Deviation 50 (1)
4.3.3 Maximum and Minimum 50 (1)
4.4 Data Loggers 50 (1)
4.5 Data Storage Devices 51 (1)
4.5.1 Data Processing and Storage 52 (1)
4.5.2 Storage Devices 52 (1)
4.6 Data Transfer Equipment 52 (3)
4.6.1 Manual Data Transfer 53 (1)
4.6.2 Remote Data Transfer 54 (1)
4.7 Power Sources 55 (1)
4.7.1 Household Batteries 55 (1)
4.7.2 Solar Battery Systems 55 (1)
4.7.3 AC Power 55 (1)
4.7.4 Other Power Options 56 (1)
4.8 Towers and Sensor Support Hardware 56 (1)
4.8.1 Towers 56 (1)
4.8.2 Sensor Support Hardware 57 (1)
4.9 Wiring 57 (1)
4.10 Measurement System Accuracy and 58 (1)
Reliability
4.10.1 Accuracy 58 (1)
4.10.2 Reliability 59 (1)
4.11 Questions for Review and Discussion 59 (2)
References 60 (1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 60 (1)
5 Installation of Monitoring Stations 61 (26)
5.1 Equipment Procurement 61 (1)
5.2 Equipment Acceptance Testing and 62 (2)
Field Preparation
5.2.1 Acceptance Testing 62 (1)
5.2.2 Field Preparation Procedures 63 (1)
5.3 Installation Team 64 (1)
5.4 Safety 64 (1)
5.5 Determination of True North 65 (1)
5.6 Tower Installation 66 (4)
5.6.1 New Tilt-Up Towers 66 (3)
5.6.2 New Lattice Towers 69 (1)
5.6.3 Existing Towers 69 (1)
5.7 Sensor and Equipment Installation 70 (10)
5.7.1 Anemometers 70 (5)
5.7.2 Wind Vanes 75 (1)
5.7.3 Temperature and Other Sensors 76 (1)
5.7.4 Data Loggers and Associated 76 (1)
Hardware
5.7.5 Sensor Connections and Cabling 77 (1)
5.7.6 Grounding and Lightning Protection 77 (3)
5.8 Site Commissioning 80 (1)
5.9 Documentation 81 (1)
5.10 Cost and Labor Estimates 81 (3)
5.11 Questions for Discussion 84 (3)
Suggestions for Further Reading 85 (2)
6 Station Operation and Maintenance 87 (12)
6.1 Site Visits 88 (1)
6.2 Operation and Maintenance Procedures 88 (4)
6.2.1 Project Description and Operation 88 (1)
and Maintenance Philosophy
6.2.2 System Component Descriptions 88 (1)
6.2.3 Routine Instrument Care 89 (1)
Instructions
6.2.4 Site Visit Procedures 90 (2)
6.3 Documentation 92 (1)
6.4 Spare Parts Inventory 93 (1)
6.5 Questions for Discussion 93 (6)
7 Data Collection and Handling 99 (6)
7.1 Raw Data Storage 99 (2)
7.1.1 Data Storage Types 100(1)
7.1.2 Data Storage Capacity 100(1)
7.2 Data Retrieval 101(1)
7.3 Data Retrieval Frequency 101(1)
7.4 Data Protection and Storage 101(1)
7.4.1 Data Logger 101(1)
7.4.2 Computer Hardware 102(1)
7.4.3 Data Handling Procedures 102(1)
7.5 Documentation 102(1)
7.6 Questions for Discussion 103(2)
8 Ground-Based Remote Sensing Systems 105(10)
8.1 Sodar 106(2)
8.2 Lidar 108(1)
8.3 Remote Sensing Campaign Design and 109(1)
Siting
8.4 Data Collection and Processing 110(1)
8.5 Comparisons with Conventional 111(2)
Anemometry
8.5.1 Beam Tilt (Sodar) 111(1)
8.5.2 Vector to Scalar Wind Speed 112(1)
Conversion (Sodar and Lidar)
8.5.3 Environmental Conditions (Lidar) 112(1)
8.5.4 Turbulence Intensity and 112(1)
Anemometer Overspeeding (Sodar and
Lidar)
8.5.5 Flow Inclination and Complex 113(1)
Terrain (Sodar and Lidar)
8.5.6 Volume Averaging (Sodar and Lidar) 113(1)
8.5.7 Distance from Reference Mast 113(1)
8.6 Questions for Discussion 113(2)
Suggestions for Further Reading 114(1)
PART 2 Data Analysis and Resource Assessment 115(145)
9 Data Validation 117(13)
9.1 Data Conversion 118(1)
9.2 Data Validation 119(6)
9.2.1 Validation Routines 120(4)
9.2.2 Treatment of Suspect Data 124(1)
9.3 Post-Validation Adjustments 125(2)
9.3.1 Tower Effects 125(1)
9.3.2 Turbulence 126(1)
9.3.3 Inclined Flow 126(1)
9.4 Data Substitution and Averaging 127(1)
9.4.1 Data Substitution 127(1)
9.4.2 Data Averaging 128(1)
9.5 Questions for Discussion 128(2)
References 129(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 129(1)
10 Characterizing the Observed Wind Resource 130(13)
10.1 Summarizing the Observed Wind 130(11)
Resource
10.1.1 Data Recovery 131(1)
10.1.2 Mean and Annualized Mean Wind 131(3)
Speeds
10.1.3 Wind Shear 134(2)
10.1.4 Turbulence Intensity 136(1)
10.1.5 Wind Power Density 137(1)
10.1.6 Air Density 137(1)
10.1.7 Speed Frequency Distribution and 138(1)
Weibull Parameters
10.1.8 Wind Rose 139(2)
10.2 Questions for Discussion 141(2)
Suggestions for Further Reading 142(1)
11 Estimating the Resource at Hub Height 143(12)
11.1 Wind Speed 143(7)
11.1.1 Direct Measurement 144(2)
11.1.2 Displacement Height 146(1)
11.1.3 Convergence Height 147(1)
11.1.4 Logarithmic Method 148(2)
11.2 Time-Varying Speeds and Speed 150(1)
Distributions
11.3 Other Parameters 151(1)
11.3.1 Wind Direction 151(1)
11.3.2 Air Density 152(1)
11.3.3 Turbulence Intensity 152(1)
11.4 Questions for Discussion 152(3)
Reference 154(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 154(1)
12 The Climate Adjustment Process 155(23)
12.1 Is the Wind Climate Stable? 156(3)
12.1.1 Historical Evidence 157(1)
12.1.2 Prospects for Change in the 158(1)
Future
12.1.3 Other Factors That May Affect 159(1)
the Local Wind Climate
12.2 Requirements for Accurate MCP 159(7)
12.2.1 Correlation 160(2)
12.2.2 Homogeneous Wind Speed 162(4)
Observations
12.3 Sources of Reference Data 166(4)
12.3.1 Tall Towers Instrumented for 166(1)
Wind Resource Assessment
12.3.2 Surface Weather Stations 167(1)
12.3.3 Rawinsonde Stations 167(2)
12.3.4 Modeled Data Sets 169(1)
12.4 The Target-Reference Relationship 170(4)
12.4.1 Data Binning 171(1)
12.4.2 Fitting Methods 171(1)
12.4.3 Predicting the Speed Distribution 172(1)
12.4.4 Direction and Other Parameters 173(1)
12.4.5 Summary 173(1)
12.5 Questions for Discussion 174(4)
References 176(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 176(2)
13 Wind Flow Modeling 178(17)
13.1 Types of Wind Flow Models 179(10)
13.1.1 Conceptual Models 179(1)
13.1.2 Experimental Models 179(1)
13.1.3 Statistical Models 180(2)
13.1.4 Numerical Wind Flow Models 182(7)
13.2 Application of Numerical Wind Flow 189(2)
Models
13.2.1 Topographic Data 189(1)
13.2.2 Land Cover Data 189(1)
13.2.3 Mast Number and Placement 190(1)
13.2.4 Adjustments to Multiple Masts 191(1)
13.3 Questions for Discussion 191(4)
References 192(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 193(2)
14 Offshore Resource Assessment 195(25)
14.1 Nature of the Offshore Wind 197(4)
Environment
14.2 Wind Resource Monitoring Systems 201(11)
14.2.1 Purpose-Built Meteorological 202(3)
Towers
14.2.2 Surface-Based Remote Sensing 205(3)
Systems
14.2.3 Using Existing Offshore 208(1)
Structures
14.2.4 Weather Buoys 209(1)
14.2.5 Data Logging and Communications 210(1)
Systems
14.2.6 Power Supply 211(1)
14.3 Operations and Maintenance of 212(1)
Offshore Systems
14.3.1 Site Visits 212(1)
14.3.2 Operations and Maintenance 212(1)
Procedures
14.4 Satellite-Based Microwave Sensors 213(7)
14.4.1 Types of Sensors 214(2)
14.4.2 Wind Resource Assessment Using 216(2)
Satellite-Based Microwave Sensors
References 218(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 219(1)
15 Uncertainty in Wind Resource Assessment 220(13)
15.1 Measurement Uncertainty 221(1)
15.2 Historical Wind Resource 221(2)
15.3 Future Wind Resource 223(1)
15.4 Wind Shear 224(1)
15.5 Wind Flow Modeling Uncertainty 225(1)
15.6 Combining Uncertainties 226(4)
15.7 Questions for Discussion 230(3)
References 232(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 232(1)
16 Plant Design and Energy Production 233(27)
Estimation
16.1 Plant Design Software 233(2)
16.2 Setting up the Project 235(2)
16.3 Wind Resource Data 237(2)
16.3.1 Wind Resource Measurements 238(1)
16.3.2 Modeled Wind Resource Grids 239(1)
16.4 Selecting a Turbine 239(4)
16.5 Designing and Optimizing a Turbine 243(1)
Layout
16.6 Gross and Net Energy Production 244(4)
16.6.1 Wake Effects 246(1)
16.6.2 Downtime 246(1)
16.6.3 Electrical Losses 247(1)
16.6.4 Turbine Performance 247(1)
16.6.5 Environmental Losses 247(1)
16.6.6 Curtailments 247(1)
16.7 Special Topics 248(8)
16.7.1 Extrapolating the Wind Resource 248(1)
from Mast to Turbine
16.7.2 Using Multiple Masts 249(1)
16.7.3 Wake Modeling 250(6)
16.8 Questions for Discussion 256(4)
References 258(1)
Suggestions for Further Reading 258(2)
Appendix A Wind Resource Assessment Equipment 260(3)
Vendors
Wind Resource Assessment Equipment 261(2)
Appendix B Selected Source of GIS Data 263(2)
Sources of GIS Data Related to Wind 263(2)
Resource Assessment
Index 265