Seasonal Correction of Offshore Wind Energy Potential due to Air Density: Case of the Iberian Peninsula

Alain Ulazia, Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi, Jon Sáenz, Sheila Carreno-Madinabeitia and Santos J. González-Rojí
Additional contact information
Alain Ulazia: Department of NE and Fluid Mechanics, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Otaola 29, E-20600 Eibar, Spain
Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi: Department of NE and Fluid Mechanics, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Alda. Urkijo, E-48013 Bilbao, Spain
Jon Sáenz: Department of Applied Physics II, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), B. Sarriena s/n, E-48940 Leioa, Spain
Sheila Carreno-Madinabeitia: TECNALIA, Parque Tecnológico de Álava, Albert Einstein 28, E-01510 Miñano (Araba/Álava), Spain
Santos J. González-Rojí: Department of Applied Physics II, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), B. Sarriena s/n, E-48940 Leioa, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: A constant value of air density based on its annual average value at a given location is commonly used for the computation of the annual energy production in wind industry. Thus, the correction required in the estimation of daily, monthly or seasonal wind energy production, due to the use of air density, is ordinarily omitted in existing literature. The general method, based on the implementation of the wind speed’s Weibull distribution over the power curve of the turbine, omits it if the power curve is not corrected according to the air density of the site. In this study, the seasonal variation of air density was shown to be highly relevant for the computation of offshore wind energy potential around the Iberian Peninsula. If the temperature, pressure, and moisture are taken into account, the wind power density and turbine capacity factor corrections derived from these variations are also significant. In order to demonstrate this, the advanced Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale Model (WRF) using data assimilation was executed in the study area to obtain a spatial representation of these corrections. According to the results, the wind power density, estimated by taking into account the air density correction, exhibits a difference of 8% between summer and winter, compared with that estimated without the density correction. This implies that seasonal capacity factor estimation corrections of up to 1% in percentage points are necessary for wind turbines mainly for summer and winter, due to air density changes.

Keywords: Weather Research and Forecast Model—WRF; data assimilation; air density; offshore wind energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3648/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3648/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:13:p:3648-:d:245152

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().