Potential of wind power for Thailand: an assessment

This paper reviews the potential for wind-power generated electricity in Thailand by means of a wide-ranging literature survey. Proposed application at a university campus is used as a case study to demonstrate that wind power is unlikely to be economically competitive where grid-connected electricity is available. The need for improved low wind speed turbine performance for Thai applications is highlighted by comparing the output of commercially available wind turbines with the characteristics of Thai wind; the challenges of improving low wind speed turbine performance are discussed. It is concluded that for Thailand in the foreseeable future the benefits of economic wind power electricity generation will probably be confined to small remote isolated installations including traditional applications.