Book
An 80m Coastal Wind Power Assessment Using QuikSCAT
01 Oct 2007
Abstract
Steadier and faster offshore winds provide a potentially higher and more continuous source of energy. Companies are actively pursuing technology which allows for wind turbines to be placed in deeper waters (>100 m) farther away from the coast. Typical hub heights of modern wind turbines are near 80 m. We use wind profile correction methods and bathymetric contours to highlight coastal regions where extraction of wind power at 80 m is feasible. Observed (2000--2006) 10 m surface winds from NASA's SeaWinds scatterometer measurements onboard QuikSCAT are extrapolated to 80 m using Monin- Obukhov similarity theory. A Weibull probability distribution function (PDF) is fitted to these twice-daily wind speed observations. 80 m wind power density is calculated using the full and truncated (between cut-in and cut-out speeds of typical wind turbines) PDF. Mean 2000--2006 80-10 m wind speed differences range from <2 m s super(-1) for unstable boundary layers to >3 m s super(-1) for stably stratified boundary layers over coastal waters near Nova Scotia and east of Argentina. Near Japan, climatological 80 m wind power densities are double 10 m wind power densities. Boreal wintertime wind power densities calculated for usable wind speeds are 15% and 17% lower than full PDF wind power densities for gap wind regions near Vladivostok and Japan, respectively.
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Details
- Title
- An 80m Coastal Wind Power Assessment Using QuikSCAT
- Creators
- S CappsC Zender
- Resource Type
- Book
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Identifiers
- 991019186642704721