AGS-Energy
Building a new World with environmentally clean and renewable energy technologies
Evaluation Instruments Estimating Your Wind Resource To help determine the suitability of your site for a small electric wind system, you need to estimate your site's wind resource. The wind resource can vary significantly over an area of just a few miles because of local terrain influences on the wind flow. You can use the following methods for estimating your wind resource. Consult Wind Resource Maps As a first step, you can consult a wind resource map, which is used to estimate the wind resource in your area. The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America Program has wind resource maps by state. Obtain Airport Wind Speed Data Another way to indirectly quantify the wind resource is to obtain average wind speed information from a nearby airport. However, local terrain influences and other factors may cause the wind speed recorded at an airport to be different from your particular location. Airport wind data are generally measured at heights about 20–33 feet (6–10 meters) above ground. Average wind speeds increase with height and may be 15–25% greater at a typical wind turbine hub-height of 80 feet (24 meters) than those measured at airport anemometer heights. Observe Vegetation Flagging Flagging—the effect of strong winds on area vegetation—can help determine area wind speeds. Trees, especially conifers or evergreens, can be permanently deformed by strong winds. See flagging illustration on this page for more information. Click on the arrows to magnify this illustration on the side of this screen. Use a Measurement System Direct monitoring by a wind resource measurement system at a site provides the clearest picture of the available resource. Wind measurement systems are available for costs as low as a few hundred dollars. Click on ''Shop Here'' to check our products. Instruments called digital windmeters, wind speed indicators, anemometers...etc are designed to evaluate the wind potential at your site. If you cannot find any in our online shop, please send us an email and we will check our warehouse stock. For the evaluation of wind potential before installing a large Megawatt scale wind turbine however, expensive equipment and software may be needed. This is so, because data needs to be taken for many months, seasons and even years and recorded safely, either locally saved or emitted wirelessly somewhere where it is being evaluated mathematically. It is important to take data at high elevations for such long times prior to installing these large wind turbines, because one has to make sure proper location and turbine are selected for such large investments. The measurement equipment must be set high enough to avoid turbulence created by trees, buildings, and other obstructions. The most useful readings are those taken at hub-height, the elevation at the top of the tower where the wind turbine is going to be installed.
Obtain Data from a Local Small Wind System If there is a small wind turbine system in your area, you may be able to obtain information on the annual output of the system and also wind speed data if available. You may come across places where they install small turbines first to see how they perform over months or years before installing large ones. |
