Wind Energy - Resource Analysis

Work in progress

Evaluation of wind potentials (example from Namibia)

The evaluation of the wind potential in Walvis Bay and Lüderitz was carried out under two different aspects that required also different approaches and methods:
A. Evaluation of daily and annual characteristics in the wind speed distribution and
comparison to the load characteristics in Walvis Bay and Lüderitz

• statistical analysis of long and short term data
• daily, seasonal and annual wind speed patterns
• firm power probabilities for at least certain hours per day.

B. Design of wind park alternatives and calculation of its annual energy yield (various
scenarios).

For these calculations the wind atlas model and the related WASP model and WindPro
sofware program were used. Within these calculations also a sensitivity analysis concerning
a well-suited type of wind turbine for the site in question was undertaken. The wind park
calculations were then based on the identified turbine. The evaluation of the wind potential
was based on measured data from 10 m height, which had been collected intermittently by
MME during the past 2 years.4 In addition, long term meteorological data of the past 20
years as provided by the Namibian Weather Bureau and the South African Weather Bureau
were also considered.

The resulting wind potential in 50m height is characterised as follows

Site	Annual Average m/s	Energy Density kWh/m2/a	Weibull Parameters a,k
Walvis Bay Saltworks	6.8	3047	A = 7.73 k = 2.17
Lüderitz Golf Course	7.5	4936	A = 8.4 k = 1.70

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The annual and daily wind speed patterns are presented in the following graphs:

File:Wind speed pattern namibia example.JPG

Source: GTZ 2000: Wind Energy Projects in Morocco and Namibia; gtz2000-en-wind-energy-projects-marocco-namibia

Portal:Wind