Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8-2. Early Regional Wind Energy Resource Atlases
Volume No. and Title
Authors
Date
Report No.
1.
The Northwest Region
Elliott, D. L., et al.
1980
PNL-3195 WERA-1
2.
The North Central Region
Freeman, D. L., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-2
3.
The Great Lakes Region
Paton, D. L., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-3
4.
The Northeast Region
Pickering, K. E., et al.
1980
PNL-3195 WERA-4
5.
The East Central Region
Brode, R., et al.
1980
PNL-3195 WERA-5
6.
The Southeast Region
Zabransky, J., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-6
7.
The South Central Region
Edwards, R. L., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-7
8.
The Southern Rocky Mountain Region
Anderson, S. P., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-8
9.
The Southwest Region
Simon, R. L., et al.
1980
PNL-3195 WERA-9
10.
Alaska
Wise, J. L., et al.
1980
PNL-3195 WERA-10
11.
Hawaii and Pacific Trust Territories
Schroeder, T. A., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-11
12.
Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
Wegley, H. L., et al.
1981
PNL-3195 WERA-12
topography and the availability of reliable measurements in the vicinity determine the
certainty rating assigned to the wind resource estimates for exposed locations. Ratings
range from 1 (lowest degree of certainty) to 4 (highest degree of certainty). The percentage
of land area represented by a specified wind power class is also of interest in interpreting
wind power resource estimates. As the ruggedness of the terrain increases, the percentage
of land area well-exposed to the wind decreases dramatically. Much of the data used in
these early atlases was not collected for wind energy assessment purposes. As a result, the
certainty ratings are low of many areas estimated to have excellent wind resources, because
few (if any) actual measurements were available for these locations. Since the late 1970's,
however, many new sites have been instrumented specifically for wind energy assessment.
Barchet [1981] describes a wind resource data base produced specifically for this
application, containing detailed wind statistics from 975 meteorology stations in the U.S.
This expanded data base has been employed by Elliott et al. [1986] to produce a revised
Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States. New site data were identified and
obtained for approximately 270 new sites across the U.S., the majority of which were
identified as promising in the earlier regional atlases. Approximately 200 of these new sites
were instrumented specifically for wind energy assessment purposes. As before, the revised
atlas maps the wind resource in terms of wind power classes (Table 8-1 and Figure 8-2).
Areas designated Class 3 or higher are considered suitable for wind turbines, Class 2 ar-
eas are marginal, and Class 1 areas are generally unsuitable. Isolated sites ( e.g. exposed
hilltops not shown on the maps) with adequate winds may exist within some Class 1 areas.
Wind power estimates in regional and state atlases always apply to well-exposed areas
free of local obstructions to the wind, such as open plains, tablelands, and hilltops. In
mountainous areas, wind resource estimates apply to exposed ridge crests and summits.
Although wind maps identify many areas estimated to have a high wind resource, these
maps do not depict variability caused by local terrain features that can cause the available
wind energy to vary considerably over short distances, especially in areas of coastal, hilly,
and mountainous terrain.
World-Wide Wind Resources
NREL has also produced international wind resource maps available on-line at http://
www.nrel.gov/wind/international_wind_resources.html. Wind energy resource atlases for
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