Wind Energy Potential on the Norhteastern Island Territories in Venezuela Considering Uncertainties
Wind energy has become one of the most important and thriving renewable energy resources in the world. Transforming the kinetic energy of wind into electric power is more environmentally friendly than traditional processes such as the combustion of fossil fuels. It provides i...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2016SP_VasquezMaldonado_fsu_0071N_13137 |
| Summary: | Wind energy has become one of the most important and thriving renewable energy resources in the world. Transforming the kinetic
energy of wind into electric power is more environmentally friendly than traditional processes such as the combustion of fossil fuels. It
provides independence from the limited fossil fuels reserves by using an unlimited resource. In order to develop a wind power facility, it
is important to develop an initial wind resource assessment to guarantee the selected site will be profitable in terms of electric energy
output. Several countries lack developed wind atlases that indicate a rough estimate of wind resource in their territories, which is an
obstacle for inexpensive wind resource evaluations. In order to perform site evaluations generally an anemometer must be put in place to
take wind measurements. This process is costly and time consuming since at least a year of data must be observed. The quality of wind
resource depends on several geographic and atmospheric characteristics such as: air density, site location, site topography, wind speed
and direction. This study was conducted to provide an initial wind resource assessment on three locations in Venezuela which do not have
previous evaluations: Cerro Copey, Punta de Piedras and Los Roques. The assessment was done remotely based on the national meteorological
service meteorological observations; wind resource and turbine power output uncertainties were taken into account. The wind assessment was
done through Monte Carlo simulations mathematically considering several uncertainties with emphasis on surface roughness for vertical
extrapolation. The results exhibit wind energy potential of the three sites and a throughout wind resource characterization of the site
with the most potential: Cerro Copey. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of
the Master of Science. === Spring Semester 2016. === April 8, 2016. === Assessment, Energy, Venezuela, Wind === Includes bibliographical references. === Sungmoon Jung, Professor Directing Thesis; Eren Erman Ozguven, Committee Member; Kamal Tawfiq,
Committee Member; Raphael Kampmann, Committee Member. |
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