Google Wind Power Measurement

How accurate is wind speed measurement?

Users of wind speed measurement data for the assessment of available wind energy often request a rather high accuracy in the order of 1%, because wind energy depends on the third power of the wind speed (51.1). A 1%-error in wind speed thus means up to 3% error in wind energy.

How does the Global Wind Atlas work?

To discover deeper insights and make better predictions we process limited personal information such as your IP. The Global Wind Atlas is a free, web-based application developed to help policymakers, planners, and investors identify high-wind areas for wind power generation virtually anywhere in the world, and then perform preliminary calculations.

How is wind speed measured?

Near-surface wind speed is very often measured by cup anemometers (Chap. 9) that have been calibrated in wind tunnels. Site-specific wind speed measurements up to heights in the order of 50 – 100 m are quite often made from masts erected for this purpose. See Chap. 9 on anemometry and [51.29] for details.

How does IWEs measure wind conditions?

IWES employs innovative measurement concepts – using a variety of remote sensing technologies – to document the wind conditions. The expansion of wind energy is taking place under different environmental conditions all around the world.

What are the requirements for wind measurements?

The main requirement is that the measurements are representative for an area or an air volume covered by the foreseen devices for power generation. For instance, wind measurements often have to be performed at exposed sites, such as hilltops.

How do you calculate rated power of a wind turbine?

This can be done by multiplying the rated power of the wind turbine by the capacity factor for the location (and the number of hours in a year): AEP = P rated * CF * 8760 hr/year, where AEP is annual energy production, Prated is rated power, and CF is capacity factor.