Evaluación probabilista del potencial de energía eólica marina español para aerogeneradores de 10 MW

Abstract

Wind energy is among the renewables that have grown the fastest

in recent times. Since it can be considered as a notably clean

and sustainable alternative, this trend is likely to continue in the

years to come. In particular, offshore wind energy has received an

increasing amount of attention for two main reasons: i) its high

energy potential and ii) the difficulty certain countries experience

in finding suitable terrain for new onshore wind farms. For this

reason, the Spanish Coast is seen as a promising area in terms

of its offshore wind energy potential. The first step in planning

offshore wind farms is to carry out a thorough characterisation of

the wind resource. For the first time, this paper addresses how the

Spanish Coast potential- both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean

can be assessed through seven probability distributions: Weibull,

Rayleigh, Nakagami, Gamma, Normal, Lognormal and Inverse

Gaussian. These distributions are then compared in terms of six

different metrics. The results show that the Weibull, Rayleigh and

Nakagami are usually the best options. A 10-MW wind turbine

was used to estimate the yearly average production. The Galician

coast obtained the highest-performing results, although certain

Mediterranean areas also achieved acceptable values.