Statistical models for wind characteristics at potential wind energy conversion sites. Final report, September 15, 1977-October 14, 1978

Simple models and guidelines are developed for wind energy site surveys. Probabilistic procedures are employed to assess survey duration, climatological adjustment, and run duration statistics. A climatological adjustment procedure is derived for the enhancement of candidate site data from a reference site with long-term data, and the computation of confidence intervals is shown for existing data and for projected survey durations. The value of the enhancement procedure is diminished because of the sensitivity of the procedures to long-term cross correlations. A simplified run duration model is developed for initial persistence assessment. The model is simply calibrated for each run level from the seasonal mean wind speed at a site.