Wind speed description and power density in northern Spain

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2017-11, Vol.138, p.967-976
• Main Authors: Herrero-Novoa, Cristina, Pérez, Isidro A., Sánchez, M. Luisa, García, Ma Ángeles, Pardo, Nuria, Fernández-Duque, Beatriz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative energy; Automatic weather stations; Clean energy; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Image analysis; Image processing; Mathematical analysis; Median (statistics); Method of moments; Renewable energy; Statistical analysis; Surface distribution; Turbines; Weibull distribution; Wind power; Wind speed; Wind statistics; Wind turbines
• ISSN: 0360-5442; 1873-6785
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.127

Wind resources are increasingly being investigated as a clean alternative for generating energy. This paper analyses the daily wind speed recorded at 46 automatic weather stations located in Navarre, northern Spain, in 2005–2015. Key points are the surface density of stations and the range of time that ensure a faithful depiction of wind speed together with surface calculations from image analysis and correlation with height. Different statistics were used. Median wind speed at 10 m was low, about 3.3 m s−1 and its interquartile range was narrow, about 2.3 m s−1. Nearly half the surface shows a median wind speed above 3.0 m s−1. The method of moments was employed to calculate the parameters of the Weibull distribution. Around half of the surface presented a shape parameter above 2.25 and the scale parameter was above 4 m s−1 for nearly 41% of the region. Although wind resources are not suitable for wind turbine applications in most of the region, since the wind speed is low in low-lying areas, about 12% of the region is suitable for stand-alone applications and, moreover, a substantial part of the region, around 23%, presents satisfactory wind resources for the installation of wind turbines. •Wind speed was analysed at 46 stations in northern Spain in the period 2005–2015.•Correlation with height was noticeable for the mean and standard deviation.•Wind power density was calculated from the Weibull distribution parameters.•Nearly a quarter of the region analysed is suitable for wind turbine applications.