Wind Resource Assessment: A Practical Guide To Developing A Wind Project

A practical, authoritative guide to the assessment of wind resources for utility-scale wind projects—authored by a team of experts from a leading renewable energy consultancy
The successful development of wind energy projects depends on an accurate assessment of where, how often, and how strongly the wind blows. A mistake in this stage of evaluation can cause severe financial losses and missed opportunities for developers, lenders, and investors.
Wind Resource Assessment: A Practical Guide to Developing a Wind Project shows readers how to achieve a high standard of resource assessment, reduce the uncertainty associated with long-term energy performance, and maximize the value of their project assets. Beginning with the siting, installation, and operation of a high-quality wind monitoring program, this book continues with methods of data quality control and validation, extrapolating measurements from anemometer height to turbine height, adjusting short-term observations for historical climate conditions, and wind flow modeling to account for terrain and surface conditions.
In addition, Wind Resource Assessment addresses special topics such as:

* Worker safety
* Data security
* Remote sensing technology (sodar and lidar)
* Offshore resource assessment
* Impacts of climate change
* Uncertainty estimation
* Plant design and energy production estimatio

Filled with important information ranging from basic fundamentals of wind to cutting-edge research topics, and accompanied by helpful references and discussion questions, this comprehensive text—designed for an international audience—is a vital reference that promotes consistent standards for wind assessment across the industry.

Michael C. Brower, PhD, editor and lead author, is Chief Technical Officer of AWS Truepower, LLC, where he leads product development and helps ensure quality and standards across the company. A physicist and prominent expert in wind energy, he has led numerous assessments of utility-scale wind projects around the world. He is also known for his contributions to wind flow modeling and short-term wind forecasting. His coauthors are a team of experts in meteorology, engineering, and modeling who have collectively assessed over 60,000 MW of wind plant capacity.

Preface xv
1. Introduction 11.1 Where do Winds Come From? 21.2 Key Characteristics of the Wind 41.3 Wind Power Plants 61.4 Purpose and Organization of this Book 91.5 Questions for Discussion 10
PART 1 Wind Monitoring 13
2. Overview of a Wind Resource Assessment Campaign 152.1 Site Identification 162.2 Resource Monitoring 162.3 Wind Resource Analysis 20
3. Siting a Wind Project 233.1 Site Selection 233.2 Regional Wind Resource Information 253.3 Field Surveys 293.4 Tower Placement 303.5 Permitting for Wind Monitoring 333.6 Land Lease Agreements 343.7 Questions for Discussion 35
4. Monitoring Station Instrumentation and Measurements 374.1 Basic Measurements 374.2 Additional Measurements 454.3 Recorded Parameters and Sampling Intervals 494.4 Data Loggers 504.5 Data Storage Devices 514.6 Data Transfer Equipment 524.7 Power Sources 554.8 Towers and Sensor Support Hardware 564.9 Wiring 574.10 Measurement System Accuracy and Reliability 584.11 Questions for Review and Discussion 59
5. Installation of Monitoring Stations 615.1 Equipment Procurement 615.2 Equipment Acceptance Testing and Field Preparation 625.3 Installation Team 645.4 Safety 645.5 Determination of True North 655.6 Tower Installation 665.7 Sensor and Equipment Installation 705.8 Site Commissioning 805.9 Documentation 815.10 Cost and Labor Estimates 815.11 Questions for Discussion 84
6. Station Operation and Maintenance 876.1 Site Visits 886.2 Operation and Maintenance Procedures 886.3 Documentation 926.4 Spare Parts Inventory 936.5 Questions for Discussion 93
7. Data Collection and Handling 997.1 Raw Data Storage 997.2 Data Retrieval 1017.3 Data Retrieval Frequency 1017.4 Data Protection and Storage 1017.5 Documentation 1027.6 Questions for Discussion 103
8. Ground-Based Remote Sensing Systems 1058.1 Sodar 1068.2 Lidar 1088.3 Remote Sensing Campaign Design and Siting 1098.4 Data Collection and Processing 1108.5 Comparisons with Conventional Anemometry 1118.6 Questions for Discussion 113
PART 2 Data Analysis and Resource Assessment 115
9. Data Validation 1179.1 Data Conversion 1189.2 Data Validation 1199.3 Post-Validation Adjustments 1259.4 Data Substitution and Averaging 1279.5 Questions for Discussion 128
10. Characterizing the Observed Wind Resource 13010.1 Summarizing the Observed Wind Resource 13010.2 Questions for Discussion 141
11. Estimating the Resource at Hub Height 14311.1 Wind Speed 14311.2 Time-Varying Speeds and Speed Distributions 15011.3 Other Parameters 15111.4 Questions for Discussion 152
12. The Climate Adjustment Process 15512.1 Is the Wind Climate Stable? 15612.2 Requirements for Accurate MCP 15912.3 Sources of Reference Data 16612.4 The Target-Reference Relationship 17012.5 Questions for Discussion 174
13. Wind Flow Modeling 17813.1 Types of Wind Flow Models 17913.2 Application of Numerical Wind Flow Models 18913.3 Questions for Discussion 191
14. Offshore Resource Assessment 19514.1 Nature of the Offshore Wind Environment 19714.2 Wind Resource Monitoring Systems 20114.3 Operations and Maintenance of Offshore Systems 21214.4 Satellite-Based Microwave Sensors 213
15. Uncertainty in Wind Resource Assessment 22015.1 Measurement Uncertainty 22115.2 Historical Wind Resource 22115.3 Future Wind Resource 22315.4 Wind Shear 22415.5 Wind Flow Modeling Uncertainty 22515.6 Combining Uncertainties 22615.7 Questions for Discussion 230
16. Plant Design and Energy Production Estimation 23316.1 Plant Design Software 23316.2 Setting up the Project 23516.3 Wind Resource Data 23716.4 Selecting a Turbine 23916.5 Designing and Optimizing a Turbine Layout 24316.6 Gross and Net Energy Production 24416.7 Special Topics 24816.8 Questions for Discussion 256
Appendix A. Wind Resource Assessment Equipment Vendors 260Wind Resource Assessment Equipment 261
Appendix B. Selected Source of GIS Data 263Sources of GIS Data Related to Wind Resource Assessment 263
Index 265