location matters webinar slides

ALBANY • BARCELONA • BANGALORE

463 NEW KARNER ROAD | ALBANY, NY 12205awstruepower.com | [email protected]

GIS-BASED SITE SCREENING, MAP-BASED ASSESSMENTS AND MET TOWER SITINGWITH WINDNAVIGATOR® PROJECT DESIGN GRIDS AND OPENWIND® ENTERPRISE

MATT BAKERMODELING GROUP MANAGER

BRYON PHELPSPRODUCT COORDINATOR

AMBER TRENDELLDIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING

AUGUST 2010

LOCATION MATTERS

©2010 AWS Truepower, LLC

Outline

• Site Screening with GIS Tools– Finding energetic sites and assessing competitive advantage

• Map-based Assessments– Case Study

• Siting Meteorological Towers– Using windNavigator® project design grids and openWind® Enterprise for

preliminary met tower siting

• Q&A


Locating Profitable and Energetic Sites:High-Resolution Wind Maps and Data


Locating Profitable and Energetic Wind Sites

High-Resolution Wind Maps and DataBasic GIS Analysis Examples• Ranking of counties by amount of land

area in a given wind class• Spatial selection of counties within

distance of proposed transmission• Installed capacity vs. capacity factor

Getting A Closer Look with Site-Specific Maps and Data

• Site-specific maps can provide an indication of a site’s wind variability

• ‘Virtual Met Masts’ provide a modeled annual time series dataset


Locating Profitable and Energetic Sites:GIS-based Site Screening



Site Screening Application and Inputs:• Modeled wind speed directions/frequency distributions • Validated wind speed map• Major development obstacles• Existing and proposed transmission line locations based on capacity and

distance to sites• Additional optional inputs: cost of interconnection, cost per unit length of

transmission and road construction, bulk plant loss factors, turbine model and power curve, desired plant capacity

Result: Map and tabular ranking of best potential wind sites including: capacity factor, core and expanded area annual power output, annual average wind speed, road network lengths, etc.



Site Screening Application Results


Tools for Getting the Most Out of Your Project Site

Public and private data is very useful in identifying potential obstacles to development, helping understand land acquisition and footprint needs, and aiding in the development of turbine layouts

Source DataUSGS (Seamless Data Server) 10m, 30m, 90m resolution elevation dataNational Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) Land cover (also for surface roughness)US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory (NWI)ESRI-served datasets Hydrography, landmarks, airports, etc.US Census Bureau TIGER line files Roads, Municipal BoundariesLocal Municipality Land Parcel (cadastral) BoundariesState Data Centers State-specific environmental areasFEMA/NFIP Floodplain mapsFAA / DoD Preliminary Screening Tool Web-based preliminary site assessmentVentyx, Platts Transmission Lines, Buried Pipeline, etc.


Locating Profitable and Energetic Sites:Competitive Analysis



Existing and Proposed Wind Farm Locations for Competitive Analysis

• AWEA and FAA turbine inventory data can be employed to conduct competitive analysis, understand potential wake impacts on your proposed project, and identify untapped wind resource

Background map data source: Google EarthWind Farm location source: AWEA, Federal Aviation Administration, AWS Truepower


Assessing the Energy Potential of Prospective Sites:Map-Based Energy Assessments


Assessing Energy Potential with Modeled Data

Case Study: Map-Based Energy Assessments

What: A method of estimating a plant’s energy production using: public turbine location data, models, and hub heights for existing wind projects; wind maps and modeled historical wind data; and region-specific loss estimates. Data are combined in a standard wind farm design software program to produce an estimated energy yield.

Why: Time-constrained projects or portfolio acquisitions, need for an energy estimate in early stages of project development or need to understand energy production of a competitor’s project when on-site wind measurements are not yet available or not yet necessary.


Assessing the Energy Potential of Prospective Sites with Maps


Method1. Develop Wind Resource Grid (WRG) for each project location using

modeled output derived from MesoMap®, a mesoscale-microscalemodeling system.

2. Calibrate the WRG to a fully-validated national 200 m horizontal-resolution mean annual wind speed map

3. Estimate site’s turbulence intensity and air density using modeled data4. Use energy modeling software and plant-specific power curves to

estimate turbine-by-turbine gross energy and wake losses, including wake losses from adjacent wind farms identified from wind farm inventory

5. Apply losses including: environmental, grid and turbine availability, electrical, and turbine performance losses (based on experience with other projects)




Method Performance and Validation

• Method validated against operational plant production data from 41 wind farms spread across US, totaling 148 operational plant years

• Method validates well overall: Shows a slight underestimation of energy production across the entire sample set

• Some areas are predicted better than others



Case Study: Map-Based Energy Assessments• Midwest, Upper and Lower Plains, Texas all predicted well. Method has

some higher biases in Northeast and West


Tips for Getting the Most from Your Project Site:The Science and Art of SitingMet Towers


Met Tower Siting: Understanding Local Wind Patterns

Wind flow is nearly perpendicular to the ridgeline a large percentage of the time and slopes are steep on either side of the ridge


Met Tower Siting: Understanding Local Wind Patterns


• openWind’s Modeling Uncertainty Module, along with a Project Design Grid (PDG), allow the user to identify areas of a project that would most benefit from additional met towers based on wind flow, terrain complexity and character of existing met towers.

• PDGs provide a validated snapshot of the wind resource including:• wind speed and power density

for each point on the map• frequency and weibull parameters for

each direction sector

Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGs


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsProject area with seven existing masts


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsWind speeds highest along feature and to the east


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsopenWind can help suggest new mast locations based on existing coverage


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsCertain masts are most representative of certain areas of the map


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsThe mast that is most representative of any given spot can be a surprise


Met Tower Siting with openWind® Enterprise and PDGsopenWind chooses a new mast location in the area of highest uncertainty


AWS Truepower Solutions:Which solution is right for you?


Goal Challenge(s) AWST Solution

Identify multiple promising sites for new development opportunities

Limited in-house GIS capabilities, schedule and budget

GIS-based Site Screening

Understand the competitiveness of your project

No on site data, no intel on competition’s potential advantages

Map-based energy assessment

Conduct MCP analysis on existing met tower data

Poor quality long-term reference station data Long Term VMM

Reduce uncertainty of wind resource assessment

Complex site, limited schedule and budget

openWind® EnterpriseUncertainty Module + windNavigator®PDG

ALBANY • BARCELONA • BANGALORE

463 NEW KARNER ROAD | ALBANY, NY 12205awstruepower.com | [email protected]

QUESTIONS

August 2010

AMBER TRENDELLDIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING

518-213-0044 EX. [email protected]

location matters webinar slides

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