Wind Technical Projects
Project Titles
- Wind Energy Assessment Study for Nevada
- Wind Energy Assessment Study for Nevada and the Southwest: Improved Estimates of Wind Energy Potential
- Tall Wind Tower Deployment
Scope
The wind energy potential of Nevada appears to be quite significant. A partnership between UNLV, UNR, DRI and Distributed Generation Systems Inc. (DISGEN) is working on a project to investigate this resource. Meteorologists discuss a phenomenon referred to as the "low level jet". This jet typically occurs at night and may include very strong winds, perhaps exceeding the design parameters of the planned wind system. The jet occurs regularly at some sites, but never at others. The jet may induce loads on the wind turbine that exceed the design criteria leading to catastrophic failure or substantially shorted turbine life and/or it may provide a source of incremental energy which could significantly enhance the economic performance of the system.
The tall towers project will characterize the wind resource of two areas with development potential. Two areas have been identified for the project. One area is in the north of the state; the other is in the south. The data gathered from this project will help researchers identify appropriate technologies and optimum orientations and spacing. It will also assess the ability to continue to utilize the inexpensive MET towers, while establishing a method of sonic measurement that can be correlated to the MET tower data. It also will create the basis for a new modeling technique based on the MET tower data and its correlation with topographical data.
Desert Research Institute (DRI) is leading the project and providing part of the modeling effort and all of the field installations, data acquisition, database and web page development.
University of Nevada — Las Vegas (UNLV) is providing the microscale-modeling component and is in involved with the site selection and evaluation process.
University of Nevada — Reno (UNR) is involved in the GIS component of the initial selection of the 10 sites based on the infrastructure constraints.
Distributed Generation Systems, Inc. (DISGEN) is involved in many phases of the project, including the development of wind resource assessment tools and predictive models. They are also the expert on the "Wind Project Development Process Model" which will assist in evaluating potential sites for testing.
Objectives
To advance the deployment of Low Wind Speed Turbines (LWST) and other emerging wind power technologies in Nevada and the Southwest.
To create detailed wind resource maps with extensive site-specific wind energy data.
To assess wind power density for Nevada using existing and new instrumentation as well as high-resolution mesoscale and adaptive-grid modeling.
Observations: Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS), 50-m meteorological towers, acoustic sounder, 80-m tower of opportunity.
Modeling I: Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5) — community model — prognostic equations for the wind, temperature, humidity, and turbulence kinetic energy (horizontal resolution of 2-3 km).
Modeling II: Adaptive grid modeling (horizontal resolution of 100m or less) — uses mesoscale model results as input.
Status
| Task 1: | Site Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Task 2: | Study Site Selection |
| Task 3: | Meteorological equipment installation |
| Task 4: | Model validation |
| Task 5: | Performance Monitoring |
| Task 6: | Performance Analyses |
| Task 7: | Tall Tower Instrumentation |
- Wind energy assessment study for Nevada — Completed
- Wind energy assessment study for Nevada and the Southwest: Improved estimates of wind energy potential — Completed
- Tall wind tower deployment — In progress
Learn more about the current status of these wind projects by downloading a recent presentation given at the NSWEP Program Review.
(PowerPoint 3.20 MB)
Contact
Dick Reinhardt
Desert Research Institute
Bus: (775) 674-7017
E-mail: Dick.Reinhardt@dri.edu
