ENEN 635:

Environmental Modeling

Lab 3 Report:
Wind energy modelling

Submitted by:
Muhammad Naeem
UCID: 30074991
Group #: 13

Dated: March 18, 2020

Q.1: Your company is planning to establish wind power generator at the location you have been
assigned. You have been assigned to assess the potential of the site in producing wind energy. Draw a
schematic diagram to demonstrate the entire workflow.

Solution:

Selected Station

Wind Speed (Km/hr)

Time Scale (Hourly)
(@ 10 m)

Data Selection & Download

Data Preparation Determine the Absolute

(e.g. Convert Wind Speed Frequency Distribution of
from Km/hr to m/sec) Wind Speed

Determine the Relative

Assessment of Probability
Frequency Distribution of
Density Function
Wind Speed

Perform Sustainability Estimation of Available

Analysis Wind Energy/Power

Estimation of Harvested
Figure-1 : Workflow Schematic DiagramWind Energy/Power
Q.2: Consider collecting the hourly wind speed data for three years at the location of interest at 10m
height from http://agriculture.alberta.ca/acis/alberta-weather-data-viewer.jsp

a) Propose and demonstrate a modelling exercise in understanding the frequency distribution of

the wind data using one year of dataset.

Solution:
My group number is 13 and corresponding assigned weather station is Iron Spring IMCIN
As per given instructions, wind speed hourly data was collected for year 2016 and following the above
procedure, absolute frequency distribution was determined which was then converted to relative
distribution as per procedure.
Afterwards, Weibull distribution of the wind speed was determined, and location-specific value of “C” and “K”
were adjusted accordingly to have a perfect fit of relative distribution with Weibull distribution. The following
were the final value of the parameters resulting in complete fit of the two distributions.
Scale Parameter “C” = 5.254 m/sec
Shape parameter “K” = 1.859
The relative frequency of the measured data and the frequencies driven by the Weibull distribution are depicted
in the below figure.

Figure-2 : Probabilistic Shape of the Wind Speed Data for Year-2016

In order to evaluate the substantiality of the wind speed for the year 2016, the measured probability
density of the wind speed was plotted (x-axis) against the modelled probability density of the wind
speed (y-axis) and a regression analysis was performed resulting in a regression line having the
following specific characteristics:

Slope = 0.9804

Intercept = 0.0005 and

R2 value = 0.946

Based on the above values, we can say that a strong relationship exists between measured and model
values.

Figure-3 : Sustainability Evaluation of the Wind Speed Data for Year-2016

b) Is it possible to employ the outcome of the previous step (i.e., 2a) to measure the sustainability
of wind for other two years? If yes, provide all the calculations.
For this part, the sustainability of the wind will be evaluated for only 1 year i.e. for year 2017 only (As
per instruction during Lab).

For year 2017 data, following the same procedure as outlined above, the absolute and relative
frequency distributions were determined however, for Weibull distribution estimations, the outcomes
of the pervious part (2a_Year 2016) i.e. location specific parameters “C” and “K” are used herein to
measure the suitability of wind for the year 2017.
Scale Parameter “C” = 5.254 m/sec
Shape parameter “K” = 1.859
The relative frequency of the measured data and the frequencies driven by the Weibull distribution are depicted
in the below figure.

Figure-4 : Probabilistic Shape of the Wind Speed Data for Year-2017

For evaluation of the substantiality of the wind speed for the year 2017, the measured probability
density of the wind speed was plotted (x-axis) against the modelled probability density of the wind
speed (y-axis) and a regression analysis was performed resulting in a regression line having the
following specific characteristics:

Slope = 1.037
Intercept = 0.0022 and

R2 value = 0.9466

Based on the above values, we can say that a strong relationship exists between measured and model
values.

Figure-5 : Sustainability Evaluation of the Wind Speed Data for Year-2017

Q.3: (a) Calculate the amount of electricity from the given wind speed over the entire first year you
have used in Q. 2a and then plot the time series. (b) Which four (4) months are having the highest and
lowest potential for generating electricity? What could be the rationale behind these variability's?

Solution:
The available power at any given location can be determined using the following equation:

1
Pw = ρ π R 2 µ3
2

In practice, the available wind power can’t be converted entirely into effective/usable power due to
conversion efficiency , losses in generators and other mechanical components involved in this whole
power generation system. Therefore, considering all of these factors, the power to be harvested from
the available/actual wind power. PR (in W), can be calculated as follow.

1
P R= ρ π R2 µ 3 C p N g N b
2

Using the values given in lecture notes, the harvested power is calculated and is plotted against the
time, the final results are shown below.

Figure-6 : Harvested Wind Power for Year-2016

From the above graphical representation of wind power generation, we can observe that months with
the highest potential for generating energy are February, March, April, November and December;
whereas , the months with the lowest potential for generating energy are May, July, August, September
and October. As wind energy is directly linked with earth radiation balance, therefore, the changes in
the radiation balance alters the potential for producing the wind power.
Q.4: What is the process of wind blowing? In winter, what is the dominant direction of wind blow in
Calgary?

Solution:

On a larger scale, wind is considered to be the flow of gases. On the surface of the Earth, wind consists
of the bulk movement of air masses which is basically caused by differences in the atmospheric
pressures. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the lower
pressure area, resulting in winds of various speeds. And the bigger the difference between the
pressures, the faster the air will move from the high to the low pressure.

The sun warms up the air, but it does so unevenly. Because the sun hits different parts of the Earth at
different angles, and because Earth has oceans, mountains, and other features, some places are warmer
than others. Since gases behave differently at different temperatures, resulting in pockets of warm air
and cold air which means pockets with high pressure and pockets with low pressure. The warm air
moves upward, and the cold air moves downward. The movement of air between the areas of high and
low pressure causes the wind.

Calgary is in the zone of the upper-level westerlies which produces :

 Predominantly northerly or northwesterly winds in the winter and

 A more westerly or southwesterly flow in the summer.

Reference: The Weather of the Canadian Prairies : Chapter 5 - Airport Climatology by “NAV
CANADA” a company that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation service (ANS)

https://www.navcanada.ca/EN/media/Publications/Local%20Area%20Weather%20Manuals/LAWM-
Prairies-5-EN.pdf

Q.5: Let’s say you have a choice of putting your wind turbine at a height of 10m, 30m, and 60m
above the ground surface. What is the rationale behind your choice?

Solution:

In general, the wind speed increases with height from the surface to the upper troposphere. Going up in
altitude, the pressure gradient between the warm air and the cold air increases with height which results
in higher wind speeds. Furthermore, wind speed being less near ground is also due to surface friction.
Surface objects such as trees, rocks, houses, etc. slow the air as it collides into them. The influence of
this friction is less with height above the ground; thus, the wind speed increases with height. For wind
turbine engineering, a polynomial variation in wind speed with height can be defined relative to wind
measured at a reference height of 10 meters as:

(Ref. Heier, Siegfried (2005). Grid Integration of Wind Energy Conversion Systems. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
p. 45 )

Therefore, as we have seen from above expressions that it very much logical that in order to harvest
the maximum wind energy, Wind turbines shall be installed higher. However, It is arguable that tower
height will add to the initial costs of a wind turbine installation. From an economical point of view,
there may be an optimal height that can compromise between wind energy extraction by the wind
turbine and the wind turbine costs.

Furthermore, By increasing the tower size and turbine capacity, we can reduce the infrastructure cost
tremendously. There are numerous additional advantages to having fewer towers per project: Less
environmental impact overall; fewer roads, which means a smaller area of the site is impacted with
construction traffic.

Therefore, from wind energy harvesting point of view, 60 m height will be more suitable to maximize
the power from Wind.

Q.6: What are “Environmental” and “Technological” factors important for generating electricity from
wind power?

Solution:

Several different factors influence the potential wind resource in an area. The environmental factors
affect directly or indirectly the amount of wind energy that can be harvested— the factors like

 Wind Speed,
 Temperature,
 Air Density
 Precipitation
  Humidity, and
 Pressure

Wind turbines need to be in areas with a lot of wind on a regular basis, which is more important than
having occasional high winds.

There are also certain technological factors which are very much important for the generation of Wind
energy, some of those are mentioned here.

 Performance /efficiency of the wind turbine used for the conversion of the Kinetic Energy of
the prevailing wind into Mechanical energy or power.
 Type of Electrical generator for the conversion of this Mechanical energy into electrical energy.
 Installation height of the Wind Turbine, higher the height, more will be the velocity and hence
more power.
 Radius of the Wind turbine Blades, as higher radius covers more area which produces more
wind power.

The saline atmosphere prevailing in the region causes static and dynamic stresses due to cyclic thermal
/ mechanical / electrical environments resulting in the failure of equipment and transmission line
components.