Comparative study of onshore and offshore wind characteristics and wind energy potentials: A case study for southeast coastal region of China

Abstract Wind farms have been developed at both onshore and offshore sites to ease the global energy crisis in recent decades. Nevertheless, the differences between onshore and offshore wind characteristics and their wind energy potentials have rarely been studied. Based on two original sets of wind records respectively obtained from onshore and offshore wind measurement towers in southeast coastal region of China, this paper presents comparative evaluation for the onshore and offshore wind characteristics and their wind energy potentials in this region. The Weibull distribution function is firstly verified to be a reliable model for both onshore and offshore wind speed predictions. Furthermore, the variations of mean wind speed, Weibull parameters and wind power density are studied through monthly and hourly time scales. Finally, the economic feasibility for the wind turbine installations at the onshore and offshore site is examined in terms of the operating probability and the annual energy production (AEP) of a selected wind turbine. The results show that the offshore wind energy is more even and available than the onshore wind energy for the southeast coastal region. For the sake of economic feasibility and annual energy production, it is recommended to choose the hub heights of the selected wind turbine as 70 m and 40 m at the onshore site and offshore site, respectively.

[1]  B. K. Gupta.  Weibull parameters for annual and monthly wind speed distributions for five locations in India , 1986 .

[2]  W. R. Hargraves,et al.  Methods for Estimating Wind Speed Frequency Distributions. , 1978 .

[3]  T. Chang.  Performance comparison of six numerical methods in estimating Weibull parameters for wind energy application , 2011 .

[4]  E. Akpinar,et al.  ESTIMATION OF WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL USING FINITE MIXTURE DISTRIBUTION MODELS , 2009 .

[5]  P. Vickery,et al.  Toward Objective, Standardized Intensity Estimates from Surface Wind Speed Observations , 2010 .

[6]  Carla Freitas de Andrade,et al.  Comparison of seven numerical methods for determining Weibull parameters for wind energy generation in the northeast region of Brazil , 2012 .

[7]  E. Erdem,et al.  Comprehensive evaluation of wind speed distribution models: A case study for North Dakota sites , 2010 .

[8]  M. J. Stevens,et al.  The estimation of the parameters of the Weibull wind speed distribution for wind energy utilization purposes , 1979 .

[9]  L. Hong,et al.  Offshore wind energy potential in China: Under technical, spatial and economic constraints , 2011 .

[10]  Pak Wai Chan,et al.  Investigation of offshore wind energy potential in Hong Kong based on Weibull distribution function , 2015 .

[11]  D. Kammen,et al.  Where, when and how much wind is available? A provincial-scale wind resource assessment for China , 2014 .

[12]  E. Akpinar,et al.  A statistical analysis of wind speed data used in installation of wind energy conversion systems , 2005 .

[13]  Wenxiang Wu,et al.  Assessment of Onshore Wind Energy Resource and Wind-Generated Electricity Potential in Jiangsu, China , 2011 .

[14]  Wang Zhixin,et al.  The key technology of offshore wind farm and its new development in China , 2009 .

[15]  Thananchai Leephakpreeda,et al.  Assessment of wind energy potential for selecting wind turbines: An application to Thailand , 2015 .

[16]  Pramod Jain,et al.  Wind Energy Engineering , 2010 .

[17]  A. G. Dutton,et al.  An Offshore Wind Energy Geographic Information System (OWE-GIS) for assessment of the UK's offshore wind energy potential , 2016 .

[18]  Seyit Ahmet Akdağ,et al.  A new method to estimate Weibull parameters for wind energy applications , 2009 .

[19]  S. Evans,et al.  Measured gust events in the urban environment, a comparison with the IEC standard , 2020 .

[20]  Pak Wai Chan,et al.  Observations of offshore wind characteristics by Doppler-LiDAR for wind energy applications , 2016 .

[21]  Vicente Negro,et al.  Why offshore wind energy , 2011 .

[22]  Qiusheng Li,et al.  Assessment of onshore wind energy potential under different geographical climate conditions in China , 2018, Energy.

[23]  Tian Pau Chang,et al.  Estimation of wind energy potential using different probability density functions , 2011 .

[24]  Corinne Wichser,et al.  Low wind speed turbines and wind power potential in Minnesota, USA , 2008 .

[25]  D. Weisser,et al.  A wind energy analysis of Grenada: an estimation using the 'Weibull' density function , 2003 .

[26]  Scott Victor Valentine,et al.  Do onshore and offshore wind farm development patterns differ , 2016 .

[27]  Xia Chang-liang,et al.  Wind energy in China: Current scenario and future perspectives , 2009 .

[28]  C. Justus,et al.  Height variation of wind speed and wind distributions statistics , 1976 .

[29]  H. S. Bagiorgas,et al.  Offshore wind speed and wind power characteristics for ten locations in Aegean and Ionian Seas , 2012, Journal of Earth System Science.

[30]  Moncho Gómez-Gesteira,et al.  Comparison between CCMP, QuikSCAT and buoy winds along the Iberian Peninsula coast , 2013 .

[31]  M. Gómez-Gesteira,et al.  Offshore winds and wind energy production estimates derived from ASCAT, OSCAT, numerical weather prediction models and buoys – A comparative study for the Iberian Peninsula Atlantic coast , 2017 .

[32]  Jochen Markard,et al.  The offshore trend: Structural changes in the wind power sector , 2009 .

[33]  T. W. Lambert,et al.  Modern estimation of the parameters of the Weibull wind speed distribution for wind energy analysis , 2000 .

[34]  Zhang Da,et al.  Offshore wind energy development in China: Current status and future perspective , 2011 .

[35]  Xianguo Li,et al.  Investigation of wind characteristics and assessment of wind energy potential for Waterloo region, Canada. , 2005 .

[36]  Jianzhou Wang,et al.  Wind energy potential assessment for the site of Inner Mongolia in China , 2013 .

[37]  Xu Cai,et al.  Exploitation and utilization of the wind power and its perspective in China , 2012 .

[38]  J. M. Ngaruiya,et al.  Determination of wind energy potential in the Mwingi-Kitui plateau of Kenya , 2014 .

[39]  Qiang Wang,et al.  Effective policies for renewable energy--the example of China's wind power--lessons for China's photovoltaic power , 2010 .

[40]  Qiusheng Li,et al.  Statistical analysis of wind characteristics and wind energy potential in Hong Kong , 2015 .