Wind Resource Assessment

A practical, authoritative guide to the assessment of wind resources for utility-scale wind projects—authored by a team of experts from a leading renewable energy consultancy

The successful development of wind energy projects depends on an accurate assessment of where, how often, and how strongly the wind blows. A mistake in this stage of evaluation can cause severe financial losses and missed opportunities for developers, lenders, and investors.

Wind Resource Assessment: A Practical Guide to Developing a Wind Project shows readers how to achieve a high standard of resource assessment, reduce the uncertainty associated with long-term energy performance, and maximize the value of their project assets. Beginning with the siting, installation, and operation of a high-quality wind monitoring program, this book continues with methods of data quality control and validation, extrapolating measurements from anemometer height to turbine height, adjusting short-term observations for historical climate conditions, and wind flow modeling to account for terrain and surface conditions.

In addition, Wind Resource Assessment addresses special topics such as:

• Worker safety

• Data security

• Remote sensing technology (sodar and lidar)

• Offshore resource assessment

• Impacts of climate change

• Uncertainty estimation

• Plant design and energy production estimatio

Filled with important information ranging from basic fundamentals of wind to cutting-edge research topics, and accompanied by helpful references and discussion questions, this comprehensive text—designed for an international audience—is a vital reference that promotes consistent standards for wind assessment across the industry.