Online Information for Evaluating Your Wind Resources

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Online Information for Evaluating Your Wind
Resources

• Dennis Elliott and Donna Heimiller
• Screening Renewable Energy Alternatives
• WebCast Series
• February 7, 2005

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(1987)
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Why Use Power Density Instead of Speed for
Mapping Wind Resources?
Wind power varies with distribution of wind
speeds, and air density (elevation, air
temperature and pressure)
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Comparison of Digital Wind Map from 1987 U.S.
Wind Atlas and New (2000) High-Resolution (1-km2)
Wind Map North and South Dakota
1987
2000
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High-Resolution Wind Mapping Approach

• Produces finer than 1 km2 horizontal resolution
  wind resource maps using numerical models
• Maps designed for regional wind mapping and not
  micrositing
• Does not depend on high-quality surface wind data
• Preliminary maps are validated and modified
• Formal validations limited to 50 m speed and
  power maps
• Combination of numerical (AWS Truewind),
  empirical and analytical methods (NREL
  validation)
• Many states re-mapped as part of Wind Powering
  America

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Validation Process

• Collaborative process among AWS Truewind, NREL,
  and private consultants
• Validators -- NREL and expert consultants
• consultants have access to proprietary data
• use own methods and data
• provide both quantitative scores via a spread
  sheet and qualitative comments
• provide validation results to NREL/AWS Truewind
• AWS Truewind
• produces preliminary map
• reviews validation results to improve map
• produces final validated map

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Northwest Map Validation
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Validation Issues

• Many data sources and short time to analyze data
  for all locations
• Inadequate metadata for many sites and
  proprietary issues
• Time constraints to complete review of maps and
  validation
• Produced most accurate map possible given
  constraints

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Mapping Region with Discontinuities
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Wind Mapping Issues

• Interest in wind maps for heights of 80-100m
  (not just 50m)
• Lack of validation data at heights of 80-100m
• Data from taller anemometers becoming available
  for several areas but no data for many regions
• Collection of data on existing tall towers and
  with remote sensing technology being encouraged
  to fill the data void
• Interest in using non-validated seasonal and
  diurnal grids produced as part of the mesoscale
  modeling
• Initial analyses indicate uncertainties in
  modeled data
• Approach needed for validation and development of
  seasonal and diurnal profiles

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Wind Mapping Issues and Future Plans

• NREL validated maps not available for 7 states
• Different mapping techniques used
• Major discrepancies of wind resource apparent
  along borders of states with different mapping
  techniques
• Results in patchwork quilt appearance in some
  regions
• Only old 1987 atlas maps available for 8 states
• Generally states estimated to have low to
  marginal wind resources
• Plan for updated and validated maps for
  additional states?
• WPA mapping activities winding down
• Future plans for state mapping and validation TBD
• Should discontinuities among state maps be
  formally addressed?

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Online Wind Information Availability

• High resolution mapping status and static maps
• Wind Powering America web site
• Interactive map server
• Energy Atlas of the West
• Other state and regional applications are
  available (New England, Northwest, Texas, etc.)
• GIS wind resource map data
• Wind measurement data
• Various sources

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Online Maps

• WPA site shows current high resolution maps
• Links provided to NREL validated and other
  (non-validated) wind maps

http//www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweri
ngamerica
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Interactive Maps Online

• Allows users to
• Zoom in to area of interest
• Turn on/off map layers (county bounds, roads,
  transmission, zip code, etc.)
• Western states only
• Other interactive maps are available for specific
  areas

http//www.energyatlas.org - Interactive zoom tool
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GIS Wind Resource Map Data

• NREL validated wind data only
• Geographic shapefiles of annual wind power class
• ESRI ArcGIS and ArcView format
• Importable to many other GIS packages

http//www.nrel.gov/gis/index_of_gis.html
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GIS Data Viewer - ArcExplorer

• Free from ESRI
• Allows you to view and query shapefile data
• Will not come with any reference data (roads,
  cities, etc)
• Displaying scale bar will show latitude/longitude
  coordinates

http//www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/
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Wind Measurement Data

• EERC web site data shown here
• NREL has select data sets available on request
• Datasets are also available from other sources

http//www.undeerc.org/wind/
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Wind Resource Assessment Handbook

• Handbook provides guidelines for planning and
  conducting a wind resource measurement program

Web Site
http//www.nrel.gov/wind/
l
wind_pubs.html