The Consequences of Air Density Variations over Northeastern Scotland for Offshore Wind Energy Potential

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energies-12-02635.pdf (870.53 KB)
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URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11556/744
ISSN: 1996-1073
DOI: 10.3390/en12132635
Publication date
2019
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MDPI
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Hywind-Scotland is a wind farm in Scotland that for many reasons is at the leading edge of technology and is located at a paradigmatic study area for offshore wind energy assessment. The objective of this paper is to compute the Capacity Factor ( CF ) changes and instantaneous power generation changes due to seasonal and hourly fluctuations in air density. For that reason, the novel ERA5 reanalysis is used as a source of temperature, pressure, and wind speed data. Seasonal results for winter show that CF values increase by 3% due to low temperatures and denser air, with economical profit consequences of tens of thousands (US$). Hourly results show variations of 7% in air density and of 26% in power generation via FAST simulations, emphasizing the need to include air density in short-term wind energy studying.
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ERA5 , Air density , Offshore wind energy , FAST , Scotland
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journal article
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Ulazia, Alain, Ander Nafarrate, Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi, Jon Sáenz, and Sheila Carreno-Madinabeitia. “The Consequences of Air Density Variations over Northeastern Scotland for Offshore Wind Energy Potential.” Energies 12, no. 13 (July 9, 2019): 2635. doi:10.3390/en12132635.