New Reference Wind Speed for Wind Turbines in Typhoon-Prone Areas in the Philippines

The Philippines has good potential for wind energy utilization. However, it is also prone to strong typhoons. Thus, wind turbines that will be erected in these areas maybe categorized into a special safety class and the reference wind speed is left to the discretion of the designer. Due to this scenario, the writers proposed a new reference wind speed applicable to Philippine climate which take typhoons into account. Annual extreme wind speeds gathered from fifty weather stations around the country were fitted to a generalized extreme value distribution. For each station, buckling failure of a wind turbine was analyzed using reliability theory. Based on these results a new 50-year mean wind speed and a new reference wind speed for a wind turbine in typhoon-prone areas in the Philippines are proposed.