Fundamental Study for Estimation of Wind Energy Resources (Wind Measurements at Tappi Wind Park)

In order to introduce wind turbine generator system (WTGS), an assessment of the wind energy resources is inevitable. While the use of WTGS expands over the world, complex terrain has become important as the site proposed for a WTGS. In those region contribution of local effects on the wind energy resources is quite large and intensity of wind turbulence, which brings about complicated aerodynamics loads on the wind turbine, is much larger than that over the flat terrain. The purpose of the present work is to clarify the influence of the complex terrain on the atmospheric boundary layer flow, especially focusing on the turbulence characteristics of the wind flow. The wind measurements were carried out at Tappi Wind-Park during the period from August 22nd to November 6th in 2001. We evaluated the influence of the slope on the vertical profile of mean wind speed and the integral scale of the turbulence, and examined the power spectrum of the wind fluctuation. The influence of the wake from the neighboring wind turbine has been also extracted from the wind measurement.