Browsing by Keyword "Air density"
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Item Calculation of Lebanon offshore wind energy potential using ERA5 reanalysis: impact of seasonal air density changes(IEEE. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2019) Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Gonzalez-Roji, Santos J.; Ulazia, Alain; Carreno-Medinabeitia, Sheila; Saenz, JonIn this work, data from the ERA5 reanalysis (2010-2017) have been used to estimate the seasonal offshore wind energy potential for the Lebanese coast. Additionally, for this estimation, the effect of seasonal changes of air density has been incorporated. As a reference, the SIEMENS 160/6 turbine has been adopted and wind energy potential has been expressed as the capacity factor (CF) associated to this turbine. The spatial distribution of CF provides an idea of available wind energy potential in the Lebanese coast. The impact of seasonal air density changes has been assessed as percentage reduction in this indicator. In summer, the CF reduction due to high temperatures and lower air density, reaches in some Southern regions of the Lebanese coast to values around 5.5%. The use of such reanalyses is likely to increase in the future, thus making consultancy work easier since a lot of computational work with state-of-the-art meteorological models like WRF or MC2 (used to draw the National Wind Atlas of Lebanon) may not be necessary. Therefore, most likely in the future, for wind potential estimations, rather than heavy calculation efforts, the know-how for consultancy companies will focus into deeper analysis and interpretation of readily-available data from reanalyses.Item The Consequences of Air Density Variations over Northeastern Scotland for Offshore Wind Energy Potential(MDPI, 2019) Ulazia, Alain; Nafarrate, Ander; Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Sáenz, Jon; Carreno-Madinabeitia, SheilaHywind-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.Item Global estimations of wind energy potential considering seasonal air density changes(Elsevier Ltd, 2019-11-15) Ulazia, Alain; Sáenz, Jon; Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; González-Rojí, Santos J.; Carreno-Madinabeitia, SheilaThe literature typically considers constant annual average air density when computing the wind energy potential of a given location. In this work, the recent reanalysis ERA5 is used to obtain global seasonal estimates of wind energy production that include seasonally varying air density. Thus, errors due to the use of a constant air density are quantified. First, seasonal air density changes are studied at the global scale. Then, wind power density errors due to seasonal air density changes are computed. Finally, winter and summer energy production errors due to neglecting the changes in air density are computed by implementing the power curve of the National Renewable Energy Laboratorys 5 MW turbine. Results show relevant deviations for three variables (air density, wind power density, and energy production), mainly in the middle-high latitudes (Hudson Bay, Siberia, Patagonia, Australia, etc.). Locations with variations from −6% to 6% are identified from summers to winters in the Northern Hemisphere. Additionally, simulations with the aeroelastic code FAST for the studied turbine show that instantaneous power production can be affected by greater than 20% below the rated wind speed if a day with realistically high or low air density values is compared for the same turbulent wind speed.Item Seasonal Air Density Variations over The East of Scotland and The Consequences for Offshore Wind Energy(IEEE, 2018-12) Ulazia, Alain; Gonzalez-Roji, Santos J.; Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Carreno-Madinabeitia, Sheila; Saenz, Jon; Nafarrate, AnderIn this communication, offshore wind energy is studied around the East of Scotland, where, among other farms, the pioneering floating wind farm Hywind-Scotland is located. SIEMENS 160/6 turbines have been implemented in this farm, and we have thus used this turbine for our study. The main purpose is to compute the Capacity Factor (CF) changes due to air density variations in the study area. The impact of seasonal air density changes has been assessed as percentage reduction, but individual extreme cases have also been considered at Hywind-Scotland farm. Temperature, pressure, and wind speed data from the reanalysis ERA5 have been used for that. As a results, in winter, the CF increment due to low temperatures and denser air reaches values around 3% and summer-winter difference can reach the 4%, that is, 0.52 GWh of energy production for one SIEMENS 160/6.Item Seasonal Correction of Offshore Wind Energy Potential due to Air Density: Case of the Iberian Peninsula(MDPI AG, 2019) Ulazia, Alain; Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Sáenz, Jon; Carreno-Madinabeitia, Sheila; González-Rojí, Santos J.A constant value of air density based on its annual average value at a given location is commonly used for the computation of the annual energy production in wind industry. Thus, the correction required in the estimation of daily, monthly or seasonal wind energy production, due to the use of air density, is ordinarily omitted in existing literature. The general method, based on the implementation of the wind speed’s Weibull distribution over the power curve of the turbine, omits it if the power curve is not corrected according to the air density of the site. In this study, the seasonal variation of air density was shown to be highly relevant for the computation of offshore wind energy potential around the Iberian Peninsula. If the temperature, pressure, and moisture are taken into account, the wind power density and turbine capacity factor corrections derived from these variations are also significant. In order to demonstrate this, the advanced Weather Research and Forecasting mesoscale Model (WRF) using data assimilation was executed in the study area to obtain a spatial representation of these corrections. According to the results, the wind power density, estimated by taking into account the air density correction, exhibits a difference of 8% between summer and winter, compared with that estimated without the density correction. This implies that seasonal capacity factor estimation corrections of up to 1% in percentage points are necessary for wind turbines mainly for summer and winter, due to air density changes.