International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013)

Observed Wind Climate and Weibull Distribution at RGPV Energy Park, Bhopal (India) Using WAsP
Chetan Awasthi1, Anurag Gour2, Mukesh Pandey3
1

Scholar, Asst. Professor, Professor, Department of Energy Technology, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal (M.P.) India The present work is based on the time series of wind speed data in meter per second (m/s) and the direction in degrees were recorded from Energy Park, RGPV (Bhopal, India) site located at 77.36114E Longitude and 23.31192N Latitudes for 2013 at two heights using cup anemometer at 20 m and 40 m. The measurement site lies at an elevation of 514 m above mean sea level consisting of 16419 sets of readings. A map of above mentioned site with elevations of the region is shown in Figure 1 below.

Abstract The characteristics and reliability of wind energy depends on how it can be measured, quantified and harnessed. The aim of an observed wind climate measurement is to provide information to allow the best possible estimate of the energy on the site. Wind rose and wind speed frequency distribution variability is also important factor in assessing the uncertainty in the annual energy production of a wind farm. A high-quality wind speed measurement from a site is therefore of crucial importance in calculating wind atlas reducing the uncertainty in the predicted energy production. The purpose of this paper is to calculate wind climate and weibull distribution based on the data measured from an anemometer mast at RGPV Energy Park, Bhopal (India) using WAsP wind software. Keywords Histogram, Observed Wind Climate, WAsP, Weibull distribution, Wind Rose

I. INTRODUCTION Wind resource across an area is very useful and usually expressed as a wind speed or energy density. For the successful installation and operation of wind turbines, wind characteristics in any region helps greatly in identifying suitable windy sites. It is necessary in order to assess the maximum possible electricity that could be generated by a wind turbine at that particular site at the minimum cost. A WAsP programme is a tool for evaluating the wind conditions of a specific site, taking into consideration the local influences, by applying the wind data of a suitable reference point to this site [1]. India has a gross wind power potential of over 49130 MW, and the technical potential of 17352 MW depending upon land availability and grid penetration. India has made rapid strides in harnessing wind power & secured 5 th rank in the world. The gross generation capacity towards the end of 2011 was 17351.50 MW [2]. Methodology to be adopted for the calculation and determination of the observed wind climate and Weibull statistical parameters are explained in this paper.

Fig 1- SRTM map of RGPV Energy Park, Bhopal (India) showing elevation contours

II. WIND ATLAS AND ANALYSIS APPLICATION PROGRAM In 1987 the Wind Energy and Atmospheric Physics Department at Ris National Laboratory introduced WAsP a powerful tool for wind data analysis, wind atlas generation, wind climate estimation, wind farm power production calculations and siting of wind turbines [3].

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Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013) WAsP is a PC-program for the vertical and horizontal extrapolation of wind climate statistics. It contains several models to describe the wind flow over different terrains and close to sheltering obstacles [1], [3]. The WAsP programme correlates measurements of a prospective site with those of a reference point. The accuracy of the results depends mainly on the quality of the used wind data, the selection of the reference point [2]. III. METHODOLOGY The methodology used in WAsP is an up down process to calculate wind climate is observation based which uses the time-series of wind speed and direction data recorded from the meteorological mast [3], [4], [5]. Time-series of wind speed and direction observed wind climate (OWC) The above explained methodology consists of a series of following steps: 1. Details of meteorological site. 2. Addition of data sets collected from meteorological mast. 3. Data structure explanation. 4. Review of data sets. The methodology and models used for the wind analysis and application is explained in [3] and [8]. This methodology provides the mean values of speed and power density and the difference between calculated and (Weibull) fitted values. IV. WIND DATA ANALYSIS Analysis of raw wind data calculation block option of WAsP enables an analysis of any time-series of wind measurements to provide a statistical summary of the observed, site-specific wind climate. It is implemented in separate software tools: the WAsP Climate Analyst and the Observed Wind Climate (OWC) Wizard [3], [8]. Wind data is recorded for analysis purpose from Site description: 'Energy Park, RGPV '; position: 23.31192N 77.36114E; anemometer height: 20 m and 40 m. The observed minimum speed and Maximum speed at 20 m are 0.6 m/s and 7.6 m/s respectively. Figure 2 shows the recorded data plot of wind speed and wind direction of 20 m anemometer height. The observed minimum speed and Maximum speed at 20 m are 0.7 m/s and 9.5 m/s respectively. Figure 3 shows the recorded data plot of wind speed and wind direction of 40 m anemometer height. A. Observed Wind Data at 20m

(a)

(b) Fig. 2- Plot of (a) Wind speed (b) Wind direction at 20 m.

B. Observed Wind Data at 40m

(a)

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013) The observed wind climate (OWC) represents as closely as possible the long-term wind climate at anemometer height at the position of the meteorological mast [4], [5]. The discrepancy calculated in the measured and Weibull fitted values of mean wind speed and mean power density for 20 m and 40 m are shown in Table 1. The values of weibull parameters (A, k), mean wind speed (U), mean power density (P) and frequency of all 12 sectors (0 to 359) are calculated from WAsP OWC Wizard and recorded in Table - 2 and 3 for 20 m and 40 m height respectively.
(b) Fig. 3- Plot of (a) Wind speed (b) Wind direction at 40 m. TABLE II SECTOR WISE PARAMETERS AT 20M

Sectors 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 Total

A 3.6 3.2 2.5 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3.8 4.3 4.6 4.1 3.9 4.2

k 1.95 2.62 2.62 2.67 2.92 5.54 2.31 4.21 3.42 4.05 3.52 2.33 3.34

U 3.18 2.84 2.19 1.98 2.03 2.23 2.24 3.46 3.85 4.17 3.72 3.42 3.8

P 38 21 10 7 7 8 12 31 46 54 41 41 45

Freq 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 6 19 38 23 6 100

Fig. 4 - Wind direction spots

TABLE III SECTOR WISE PARAMETERS AT 40M

V. OBSERVED WIND CLIMATE The observed wind climate file contains the frequencies of occurrence of the wind in a number of sectors (the wind rose) and wind speed bins. It further contains the height of observation above ground level and the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the wind mast [3].
TABLE I DISCREPANCY IN MEAN WIND SPEED & MEAN POWER DENSITY

Sectors 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 Total

A 5.1 4.3 4.4 3.4 3.8 3.7 4.2 4.7 5 6 5.5 5 5.5

k 2.46 2.5 3.15 3.13 3.84 4.11 5.2 5.25 4.32 3.98 3.75 2.12 3.42

U 4.49 3.85 3.94 3.08 3.41 3.37 3.86 4.31 4.57 5.42 5 4.42 4.93

P 89 55 51 24 31 29 40 56 70 120 97 95 96

Freq 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 4 14 37 29 7 100

Unit Measured at 20 m Weibull-fit at 20 m Discrepancy at 20 m Measured at 40 m Weibull-fit at 40 m Discrepancy at 40 m

Mean wind speed m/s 3.81 3.8 0.35% 4.92 4.93 0.27%

Mean power density W/m 45.27 44.53 1.63% 95.4 96.35 1.00%

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013) VI. WIND ROSE AND WIND SPEED HISTOGRAM It is noticed from observation that strong winds usually come from a particular direction. To show the information about the distributions of wind speeds, and the frequency of the varying wind directions, one may draw a so-called wind rose [7] on the basis of meteorological observations of wind speeds and wind directions. In Figure 5 and 6, the wind rose, wind speed histograms and Weibull approximation are shown for 20m and 40m meteorological height.

(a)

(a)

(b) Fig. 6- (a) Wind Rose (b) Wind Histogram of OWC at 40 m

Wind rose is made from dividing the compass into 12 sectors, one for each 30 degrees of the horizon. (A wind rose may also be drawn for 8 or 16 sectors, but 12 sectors tend to be the standard set by the European Wind Atlas). The radius of the 12 outermost, wide wedges gives the relative frequency of each of the 12 wind directions, i.e. percentage of the time is the wind blowing from that direction. VII. WEIBUL FITTED AND ITS PROPERTIRS
(b) Fig. 5- (a) Wind Rose (b) Wind Histogram of OWC at 20 m

The Weibull distribution is a mathematical expression which provides a good approximation to many measured wind speed distributions. 713

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013) The Weibull distribution is therefore frequently used to characterise a site. Such a distribution is described by two parameters: the Weibull scale parameter (A), which is closely related to the mean wind speed, and the shape parameter (k), which is a measurement of the width of the distribution [6], [7]. WAsP is provided with Weibull distribution explorer tool. The inputs in Weibull distribution explorer are Weibull parameters (A, k) and air density in Kg/m3. The purpose of the Weibull distribution explorer is to calculate the statistical properties of given Weibull parameters (A, k) [3].Weibull distribution fit graphs for the selected site at 20m and 40m height are shown in Figure-7 and 8 respectively.
(a)

(a) (b) Fig 8- (a) and (b) Graphs indicating weibull distribution fit at 40 m.

This approach is useful since it allows both the wind speed and its distribution to be described in a concise fashion, but care must be taken in using a Weibull fit. For many sites it may provide a good likeness to the actual wind speed distribution, but there are some sites where differences may be significant [6]. Various statistical values of wind speed (mean, median, moments, variance, speed of max freq. and power density), maximum frequency and max and total power density have been calculated. Statistical properties calculated from these Weibull distribution fit graphs for the selected site at 20 m and 40 m height are shown in Table-4.
(b) Fig 7- (a) and (b) Graphs indicating weibull distribution fit at 20 m.

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2013)
TABLE IV STATISTICAL PROPERTIES AT 20M AND 40M

Property Mean speed (Moment #1) Median speed Max. freq. Speed of max. freq. (Modal speed) Speed of max. power density Variance Moment #2 Moment #3 Moment #4 Max. power density Total power density

Value at 20m 3.76976 3.763503 0.307586 3.775571 4.833544 1.548153 15.75924 71.20982 342.4014 15.44641 43.61602

Value at 40m 4.942604 4.941063 0.23992 4.970973 6.292662 2.550448 26.97978 158.7478 991.9323 26.94674 97.23302

Also there are many lull period in 4 to 7 sectors (90 to 180), the winter season which gradually gain momentum as the climate warm up towards the approach of summer season. It is also concluded in the view of this paper that turbine with 3 m/s cut in speed is suitable for this site at 40m hub height. REFERENCES
[1] Bowen, A.J. and N.G. Mortensen (1996). Exploring the limits of WAsP: the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program. Proceedings of the 1996 European Union Wind Energy Conference, Gteborg, Sweden, 584-587. Vilas Warudkar and Siraj Ahmed (2012). Assessment of Wind Power Potential by Wind Speed Probability Distribution at Complex Terrain in Central Part of India Using Wasp Tool. International Journal of Wind and Renewable Energy Volume 1 Issue 4 (Page, 174-182), ISSN: 2277-3975. Mortensen, N.G., D.N. Heathfield, O. Rathmann and Morten Nielsen (2013). Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program: WAsP 11 Help Facility. Department of Wind Energy, Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark. 356 topics. Mortensen, N.G. (2012). Planning and Development of Wind Farms: Wind Resource Assessment and Siting. Wind Energy Division, Technical University of Denmark, Ris-I-3272(ed.2) (EN) April 2012 Petersen, E. L., N.G. Mortensen, L. Landberg, J. Hojstrup, H.P. Frank. 1997. Wind power meteorology. Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark, Ris-I-1206 (EN). Wind Energy - The Facts - Part 1 Technology. http://www.windenergy-the-facts.org/en/part-i-technology/technology.html. Guided Tour on Wind Energy the Danish Wind Industry Association, web site: http://www.windpower.org Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program, website: http://www.wasp.dk

[2]

[3]

VIII. CONCLUSION In this study, the observed wind climate with wind rose and histogram; and Weibull distribution fitted graphs and statistical properties of these graphs have been calculated. It is seen from the analysis of observed wind climate for the site that the site has wind power potential with the wind power density 45 W/m2 at 20 m (for A= 4.2, k= 3.34) and 96 W/m2 at 40 m (for A= 5.5, k= 3.42) for the year 2013. Some discrepancy is also seen in the measured and Weibull fitted values of mean wind speed and mean power density. Discrepancy in mean wind speed and mean power density at 20 m is 0.35% and 1.63% respectively and at 40 m is 0.27% and 1.00% respectively. It is also seen from the wind roses that wind flows predominantly in 10 and 11 sectors from the West-North West (270-300) taking North as reference at 0 indicating a strong influence of the rainy season (monsoon wind) in the Indian subcontinent.

[4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8]

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