Tall Tower Wind Energy Monitoring and Numerical Model Validation in Northern Nevada

Koracin, D.¹  Kaplan, M.¹  Smith, C.¹  McCurdy, G.¹  Wolf, A.¹  McCord, T.¹  King, K.¹  Belu, R.²  Horvath, K.³ 

[1]Desert Research Inst. (DRI), Las Vegas, NV (United States)

[2]Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)

[3]Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Zagreb (Croatia)

关键词: numerical model validation;    mesoscale models;    forecasting;    subcontract;    NREL;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1225900
RP-ID  :  NREL/SR--5000-62894
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1225900

学科分类：再生能源与代替技术

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The main objectives of this project were to conduct a tall-tower and sodar field campaign in complex terrain, investigate wind properties relevant to wind energy assessment, and evaluate high-resolution models with fixed and adaptive grid structures. Two 60-m towers at Virginia Peak ridges near Washoe Valley, Nevada, were instrumented with cup and vane anemometers as well as sonic anemometers, and an acoustic sounder (hereafter sodar) was installed near one of the towers. The towers were located 2,700 m apart with a vertical distance of 140 m elevation between their bases. Each tower had a downhill exposure of rolling complex terrain, with the nearby valley floor 3,200 m to the west and 800 m below the summit. Cup anemometers were installed at both towers at 20, 40, and 60 m, wind vanes at 20 and 60 m, and sonic anemometers at 20 and 60 m. The sodar measurements were nominally provided every 10 m in vertical distance from 40 to 200 m with the quality of the data generally decreasing with height. Surface air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and radiation measurements were conducted at 1.5 m AGL at both of the towers. Although the plan was to conduct a 1-year period of data collection, we extended the period (October 5, 2012 through February 24, 2014) to cover for possible data loss from instrument or communication problems. We also present a preliminary analysis of the towers and sodar data, including a detailed inventory of available and missing data as well as outliers. The analysis additionally includes calculation of the Weibull parameters, turbulence intensity, and initial computation of wind power density at various heights.