A knowledge of the wind potential of a region, including an assessment of its spatial and temporal variability, is key for the planning and management of wind farms and, in particular, for the integration of wind generation into the electricity grid. Additionally, knowledge of the temporal complementarity of the wind resource between different regions is of paramount importance, in a scenario of strong penetration of wind generation in the electricity market.
Meteorological models are a tool that can be used for this type of studies, offering unique possibilities. In particular, meteorological models are capable of estimating wind potential at sites where measurements are not available, with high reliability and very high spatial and temporal resolution.
This report presents the results of a series of wind simulations with a meteorological model from which
wind resource maps in Andalusia have been elaborated and their spatio-temporal variability during the period 2003-2004 has been studied.
The aim of these analyses was to highlight the spatial and temporal variability of the wind resource and the existence of regions with complementary wind regimes in the region of Andalusia.
The spatial resolution of the study was 45 km in the Iberian Peninsula as a whole and 15 km specifically in Andalusia. The temporal resolution has been 6 hours for the Iberian Peninsula and one hour specifically in Andalusia. The wind field, direction and intensity, has been simulated at heights of 40, 60 and 80 meters above the surface.
The wind field estimation has been carried out using the dynamic downscaling procedure.
In particular, analyses from the US National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which contain; the actual large-scale state of the atmosphere, have been used as initial and boundary conditions for the MM5 mesoscale meteorological model.
From these initial and boundary conditions, the MM5 model, which takes into account local characteristics (topography, vegetation cover, etc.), is able to estimate the wind field with a spatial resolution of 15 km. The simulation has been carried out for the years 2003 to 2004.
Finally, from the simulated wind fields, a statistical analysis has been carried out with two objectives.
- To quantify the existing wind potential in Andalusia at different time scales (monthly, seasonal, annual and biannual), taking as a reference the period 2003-2004. For this purpose, maps with different descriptive statistics of this potential have been obtained.
- To analyze the variability of the wind power potential in Andalusia.
- To analyze the spatial-temporal variability of this potential. In particular, it has been intended to obtain a regionalization of the wind potential, highlighting regions with a complementary wind regime within the simulated geographic area.
