Achieving a more accurate estimate of a wind resource
Many, but not all, wind farm projects do not deliver the energy production (and thus revenue) that was calculated pre-construction. Several explanations have been provided including inadequate O&M, turbines not having the expected availability and also the methodology used to calculate the long-term wind resource. This article focuses on improvements available to calculate the resource, and its potential energy production, which then feed into the financial analysis of a proposed wind farm project.
By Paul van Lieshout, Wind Power Group Manager, Sinclair Knight Merz, UK .
Many, but not all, wind farm projects do not deliver the energy production (and thus revenue) that was calculated pre-construction. Several explanations have been provided including inadequate O&M, turbines not having the expected availability and also the methodology used to calculate the long-term wind resource. This article focuses on improvements available to calculate the resource, and its potential energy production, which then feed into the financial analysis of a proposed wind farm project.
By Paul van Lieshout, Wind Power Group Manager, Sinclair Knight Merz, UK .