Abstract:

A full coverage 5x5 km spatial resolution wind resource map of New Zealand was derived from mesoscale weather modeling (MM5) which used coarse global meteorological data as initial and boundary conditions. Here, we used the MM5 wind data and meteorological station data to develop and validate a comprehensive wind energy resource map of New Zealand to identify prospective sites for commercial wind energy projects. The development of a detailed wind-resource assessment map and reliable estimates of daily, seasonal and yearly variations in wind speed is an important step in accelerating the deployment of wind energy. In total, 14 months of hourly weather data including wind speed and wind direction were simulated encompassing January 2007 to February 2008. In addition, we detailed the techniques and assumptions used to refine, quantify and optimize regional scale turbine placement at the under-construction West Wind development, based on primary wind flow directions.

MM5 had a good correlation in following the wind peaks, troughs and, directional changes in comparison with 5 10 m hub-height meteorological stations selected across New Zealand. In general, MM5 tended to slightly over predict the wind speeds (while still reasonable), and to a somewhat greater extent, over predicted the expected power density. The effect of the MM5 resolution tended to smooth the velocity flow over sharp terrain features lost at a 5 km scale which resulted in a spatially less variable wind flow. However locality, terrain, snow and land cover differences between the meteorological stations and corresponding MM5 match points were in some instance significant (especially in mountainous regions) explaining for some of the differences observed.

New Zealand has a weak high voltage transmission system with significant market price biases based on the location of generation. In addition, due to the relatively low population density, large regions (where wind speed >10 m/s) in New Zealand have little to no high voltage transmission infrastructure suitable for large scale commercial wind development. Our study indentifies a minimum of 5 substantial wind resources (4 in the South Island and 1 in the North Island) suitable for large scale wind developments which are located close to existing transmission, observe yearly average wind speed >10 m/s across major ridgelines,

Press the Back button in your browser.

Copyright 2009, Luke Leaver: Please note that the reports and theses are copyright to their original authors. Authors have given written permission for their work to be made available here. Readers who download reports from this site should honor the copyright of the original authors and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the author, Luke Leaver.