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Using airborne laser scans to model roughness length and forecast energy production of wind farms.

Successful wind power projects start with a realistic representation of the surface, more specifically the surface roughness of the site. This thesis investigates the use of airborne laser scans to model the surface roughness around a new wind farm. Estimations are made to find out how forest management and tree growth affects roughness length and displacement height. Data from scans two years apart for a specific site is provided by the Swedish governmental land registration authority. Next, tree height and plant area index methods are applied and analyzed using MATLAB. The results shows a difference of roughness length between 10.34% and 36.21% during an eight year period. WindPRO/WAsP is used to import roughness lengths for four specific cases. Height contour lines and meteorological data is taken from a long term corrected MESO data set. The results indicate a reduction in uncertainty in annual energy production between 0.79% and 2.89% across four different cases. This effect becomes significantly larger (12.76%) when comparing with classical land cover maps. Further on, effects of turbulence intensity are simulated.Finally, the results of a survey, sent to three large forest land owners in Sweden, show there is an interest in adapting forest management plans in favor of wind energy production if benefits can be shared.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-393953
Date January 2019
CreatorsValee, Joris
PublisherUppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, STandUP for Wind
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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