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

Ulazia, Alain; Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Sáenz, Jon; Carreno-Madinabeitia, Sheila; Gonzalez-Rojí, Santos J. (2019). Seasonal Correction of Offshore Wind Energy Potential due to Air Density: Case of the Iberian Peninsula. Sustainability, 11(13), p. 3648. MDPI 10.3390/su11133648

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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.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Climate and Environmental Physics
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

UniBE Contributor:

Gonzalez Rojí, Santos José

Subjects:

500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

2071-1050

Publisher:

MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

Santos José Gonzalez Rojí

Date Deposited:

15 Apr 2021 17:19

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:49

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/su11133648

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/154246

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154246

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