Performance analysis of wind resource assessment software in different wind sites in México and Brazil

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are increasing in order to provide power with minimal envi- ronmental impact. The most commercially advanced of these at present is wind power. The production and use of wind energy opens new opportunities for Latin American coun- tries to limit the emissions of carbon dioxide. It will provide a cleaner, sustainable, efficient and competitive energy matrix. According to the Latin American Wind Energy Association (LAWEA), Latin America has an installed capacity of only 1274 MW but more projects are under construction: Their combined development portfolio could reach in some countries like Mexico 2,600 MW in Oaxaca province and 1,000 MW in Baja California over the pe- riod from 2008-2012. There is a capacity addition of an average of 1 GW per year for the next five years expected, bringing the total installed wind capacity up to 5.7 GW by 2013. The growth will mainly be driven by Brazil, Mexico and Chile. In order to provide optimal sitting of wind turbines, a reliable estimate of the wind resource over a given area is re- quired. This thesis shows the performance of the models, WAsP and WindPRO in predict- ing the power production of individual turbines. The prediction accuracy is determined as function of wind direction, terrain, roughness, turbine spacing and turbulence. A detailed comparison has been made for the predictions for wind speed, power density, turbine yield and wind farm performance for different representative sites in Brazil and Mexico.