Estimation of wind characteristics at potential wind energy conversion sites

A practical method has been developed and applied to the problem of determining wind characteristics at candidate wind energy conversion sites where there are no available historical data. The method uses a mass consistent wind flow model (called COMPLEX) to interpolate between stations where wind data are available. The COMPLEX model incorporates the effects of terrain features and airflow. The key to the practical application of COMPLEX to the derivation of wind statistics is the model's linearity. This allows the input data sets to be resolved into orthogonal components along the set of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. The solution for each eigenvector is determined with COMPLEX; the hourly interpolated winds are then formed from linear combinations of these solutions. The procedure requires: acquisition and merger of wind data from three to five stations, application of COMPLEX to each of the seven to 11 (depending on the number of stations for which wind data are available) eigenvectors, reconstruction of the hourly interpolated winds at the site from the eigenvector solutions, and finally, estimating the wind characteristics from the simulated hourly values. The report describes the methodology and the underlying theory. Possible improvements to the procedure are also discussed.