Regional Study of Changes in Wind Power in the Indian Shelf Seas over the Last 40 Years

V. Sanil Kumar, Aswathy B. Asok, Jesbin George and M. M. Amrutha
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V. Sanil Kumar: Ocean Engineering Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India
Aswathy B. Asok: Ocean Engineering Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India
Jesbin George: Ocean Engineering Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India
M. M. Amrutha: Ocean Engineering Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa 403004, India

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-23

Abstract: Wind power variations at two heights (the surface level and turbine hub level) were investigated at 20 locations in the shelf seas of India using hourly fifth generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate (ERA5) data covering the last 40 years (1979 to 2018). The interannual and seasonal variability in wind power was studied. The wind power density, the exceedance probability of power density and the exploitable wind resources were examined. In the Indian shelf seas, the annual mean wind power density at 10 m above mean sea level varies from 82 to 353 W/m 2 . Wind power density at 110.8 m is 20% to 40% higher than at 10 m above mean sea level. The study shows that the shelf seas have an abundance of wind power, with wind speeds over 3 m/s during 90% of the time at locations 1 to 3, 12 and 13, with a high occurrence of exploitable wind energy above 0.7 × 10 3 kWh/m 2 . Among the locations studied, the most power-rich area was location 12, where during ~62% of the time power was greater than 200 W/m 2 . A significant change (~10–35%) in inter-annual wind power density was detected at a few locations, and these variations were associated with Indian summer monsoon and El Niño–Southern Oscillation events. Trend analysis suggests a decreasing trend in the annual mean wind power density for most of the locations in the Indian shelf seas over the last 40 years. Wind power has considerable directional distribution, and at different locations the annual wind power from the dominant direction is 10% to 79% of the total available power from all directions.

Keywords: north Indian Ocean; ocean renewable energy; resource assessment; wind energy; wind climate variability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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