Wind power performance assessment at high plateau region: A case study of the wind farm field test on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Ngawang Gyatso, Ye Li, Zhiteng Gao, Qiang Wang, Shoutu Li, Qiang Yin, Junbo Chen, Peng Jin, Zhengshu Liu, Zengyi Ma, Xuefeng Chen, Jiajia Feng and Dorje,

Applied Energy, 2023, vol. 336, issue C, No S0306261923001538

Abstract: The population of countries with high altitudes accounts for about 20.4% of the world’s population, but the annual electricity consumption is still at a low level, which significantly slows down the development of these regions. Wind energy is suggested as the solution, but the progress is very slow due to challenges in operations from the relatively harsh environment. To overcome this challenge while considering Qinghai-Tibet plateau is one of most representative high altitude regions in the world, we recently developed a 22 MW wind farm at an altitude of over 5000 m in Tibet, China, and conducted a one-year field-test campaign using direct-drive permanent-magnet generators (DDPMGs) and doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) as a case study. In this paper, we report some main results. During resource assessment, it is found that the wind speeds is between 11 m/s and 22 m/s for most winter time with abundant energy production but relatively significant daily fluctuation due to temperature change. From a technology perspective, we found that both DDPMGs and DFIGs can adapt to the ultra-high-altitude environment. Wind turbines with DDPMGs are reliable because of their gearless design, and turbines with DFIGs have a lower cut-in wind speed, which enables them to generate power in regions with low wind speeds. This wind farm generates nearly 60 million kWh of electricity to support 8410 local households per year. It can also eliminate the need to burn 50.24 million kg of cow dung, thereby effectively reducing the local residents’ dependence on burning organic matter for energy. This study is expected to provide guidance to technology developers and governmental policymakers to plan future wind farms in the high altitude area.

Keywords: Ultra-high altitude wind energy; Electricity at high altitude; Field test; Performance analysis; Environmental impact analysis; Qinghai-Tibet plateau (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261923001538
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:appene:v:336:y:2023:i:c:s0306261923001538

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120789

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().