Wind resources in the highlands region of San Luis Potosi state and possible applications for rural zones

Abstract

Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as the main cause of climate change, are largely generated by the energy sector, which coupled with the current lifestyles that demand a high consumption of fossil fuels, has led us to face a global energy crisis. This demands a transition to the use of renewable energy, which substantially reduced GHG generation as well as the dependence on fossil fuels. Furthermore, renewable energies represent an important alternative for power generation in remote areas where there is not resources or technology to meet their energy demands. Mexico is a country with a large identified solar and wind potential. However, its potential has not been thoroughly evaluated in the entire country. Likewise, in the social field, there are throughout the country around 89 thousand marginalized localities without access to electricity, being SLP the 4th at national level without electricity covering as well as the 6th in marginalization. Mexico is a country with great solar and wind identified potential, but this has not been thoroughly analyzed in the whole country, so it was performed the estimation of wind potential in the Highlands region of the state of San Luis Potosi, starting from the premise that, according to the recent published “Solar and Wind resource Atlas of Mexico”, there is a useful potential –between 200 and 300 W/m2- derivative of its weather and topographic conditions in certain areas of the State. The wind resource assessment was carried out by using the specialized software WasP, in order to identify wind potential areas. Climate data were analyzed from three weather stations (Matehula, Zacatecas and SLP) resulting only useful potential for small-scale use in surroundings SLP city. Finally the identified potential was associated with possible rural applications as alternative for the development of the surrounding communities.