Wind Resource Characteristics

Lecture Objectives

Calculate how the wind speed varies with

height above ground level for a given wind site
Describe the variation of wind speed with time
in both the long and short term
Model real long term wind speed data using the
Weibull distribution
Use the Weibull distribution to calculate annual
energy capture
First: some terminology

atmospheric boundary layer

geostrophic wind
gradient wind/height
coriolis effect or “force”
General circulation
 More terminology

surface roughness length

wind shear
adiabatic lapse rate
atmospheric stability –
–stable
–unstable
–neutral
Atmospheric boundary layer

Free atmosphere

~2000m Gradient height

Height z(m)

Ekman
U Planetary
layer
boundary
layer

~100m
Surface layer
The log law for neutral stability

U( z ) ln( z z0 )

U( z h ) ln( z h z0 )
 Example applications of log law

A site has a wind speed of 6.3 m/s at 30m as

measured over a period of 8 months. If z0 is
0.01 metres, what wind speed would have
been seen by a wind turbine of 80m hub
height at the same site ?

Answer: U=6.3*ln(80/0.01)/ln(30/0.01)=7.1m/s
Estimating surface roughness
Type of terrain Z0 
Mud Flats, Ice 10-5 to 3x10-5
Calm Sea 2x10-4 to 3x10-4
Sand 2x10-4 to 10-3 0.01
Mown Grass 0.001 to 0.01
Low Grass 0.01 to 0.04 0.13
Fallow Field 0.02 to 0.03
High Grass 0.04 to 0.1 0.19
Forest and Woodland 0.1 to 1
Built up area, Suburb 1 to 2 0.32
City 1 to 4
Estimating surface roughness offshore

High wind speeds offshore result in choppy

seas and increased surface roughness

An approximate approach is based on

Charnock’s relation:

where:
Yet more terminology

synoptic variation
diurnal
turbulence
Wind speed variation
 6
The van de Hoven spectrum
Power spectral density nS(n) (ms)2

4 notes: page 12

Synoptic Turbulence
0
10-3 10-2 10-1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 1000 cycles/h
1000 100 10 5 2 1 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.020.01 0.001 h

4 day Semi-diurnal 5 min 1 min 5 sec

Macrometeorological Spectral Micrometeorological
range gap range
 Wind Speed Distribution

0.14
0.12 Can fit a Weibull Distribution
0.1 to the data
Probability

0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
10

12

14

16

18

20

22
0

Wind speed (m/s)

 Weibull probability distribution
0.1
k -1 k
0.09 p(U)= (k/C)(U/C) exp[-(U/C) ]
0.08

0.07
k=shape parameter
0.06
C=scale parameter
Probability

0.05

0.04 Here:
0.03 k=9.3m/s
0.02
C=1.8
0.01

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Wind Speed (m/s)

V
Cumulative Weibull distribution P(V<U)

k
Q(U > V) = exp[-(V/C ) ]
Probability that wind speed U exceeds a value
of V
 Weibull Distribution with C = 9.3m/s and k=1.8

0.1

0.09

0.08
k
0.07 Q(U<V) = 1 - exp[-V /C) ]
0.06
Probability

0.05

0.04
Q(U > V) = exp[-(V / C )k ]
0.03

0.02

0.01

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Wind Speed (m/s)

V
Fitting Weibull parameters

k
Q(U > V) = exp[-(V/C ) ]

and so taking logs twice:

1n(-1nQ) = k1n(V) - k1n(C)

 Linear fitting procedure

ln(-ln(Q)

ln(V)

Slope = k Intercept = -k ln(C)

 Estimating C and k

 2  _ _
C  U  113
. U
 
1.086
 
k   _ 
 U
Example reverse distribution p(V>U)

Cumulative Weibull Distribution (C=9.26 and k=1.77)

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7
Probability

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Wind Speed (m/s)

 Energy yield calculation

Either directly from

hourly data or frequency
distribution

OR by integration of the
Weibull distribution: 1.0
Cumulative Weibull Distribution (C=9.26 and k=1.77)

0.9

0.8

 0.7

 Probability
0.6

P = p(U) P(U) dU 0.5

0.4

0.3

u=0 0.2

0.1

0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Wind Speed (m/s)

Turbulence intensity and roughness

I = /U
 Example calculation

An offshore site has a measured turbulence

intensity of 15% and an annual mean wind speed
of 10 m/s. What is the sea surface roughness
length ?

Answer: at 10m/s the short term standard

deviation is 1.50m/s; the friction velocity is thus
0.6m/s, and z0 is therefore 0.015*0.36/g=0.0005m