scholarly journals Offshore wind energy – South Africa’s untapped resource

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-42
Author(s):  
Gordon Rae ◽  
Gareth Erfort
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
South African ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Multi Criteria Evaluation

In the context of the Anthropocene, the decoupling of carbon emissions from electricity generation is critical. South Africa has an ageing coal power fleet, which will gradually be decommissioned over the next 30 years. This creates substantial opportunity for a just transition towards a future energy mix with a high renewable energy penetration. Offshore wind technology is a clean electricity generation alternative that presents great power security and decarbonisation opportunity for South Africa. This study estimated the offshore wind energy resource available within South Africa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), using a geographic information system methodology. The available resource was estimated under four developmental scenarios. This study revealed that South Africa has an annual offshore wind energy production potential of 44.52 TWh at ocean depths of less than 50 m (Scenario 1) and 2 387.08 TWh at depths less than 1 000 m (Scenario 2). Furthermore, a GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation was conducted to determine the most suitable locations for offshore wind farm development within the South African EEZ. The following suitable offshore wind development regions were identified: Richards Bay, KwaDukuza, Durban, and Struis Bay. Based on South Africa’s annual electricity consumption of 297.8 TWh in 2018, OWE could theoretically supply approximately 15% and 800% of South Africa’s annual electricity demand with offshore wind development Scenario 1 and 2 respectively.

Assessment and Analysis of Offshore Wind Energy Potential

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radian Belu
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Accurate Analysis ◽  
Energy Assessment ◽  
Wind Energy Development ◽  
One Year

Wind energy usage is increasing at fast rates due to significant technical advances, energy supply security and environmental concerns. Research is focusing among others areas on the development of reliable and accurate wind energy assessment methods. Offshore wind energy resources are usually larger than at geographically nearby onshore sites, which may offset in part higher installation, operation, and maintenance costs. Successful offshore wind energy development relies on accurate analysis and assessment of wind energy resource potential. Offshore wind assessment challenges are related to the wind turbine size, offshore installation challenges, lack of adequate and long-term wind and meteorological measurements, etc. Wind, a highly intermittent phenomenon has large spatiotemporal variability, being subject to sub-hourly, hourly, diurnal, seasonal, yearly, and climate variations in addition to their dependence on the geography and environment. Wind regime characteristics are critical to all aspect of a wind energy project, e.g. potential site identification, economic viability, equipment design, operation, management, or wind farm impacts on the electric grid. For a reliable wind energy assessment, measurements at rotor heights are required at least for one year. If such measurements are not available needs to be substituted by alternative approaches, e.g. measure-correlate-predict or numerical methods. Chapter objectives are to provide the reader with comprehensive reviews of the wind energy assessment and analysis methods.

scholarly journals OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY RESOURCE ASSESSMENT IN MALAYSIA WITH SATELLITE ALTIMETRY

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
FARAH ELLYZA HASHIM ◽  
◽  
OSCAR PEYRE ◽  
SARAH JOHNSON LAPOK ◽  
OMAR YAAKOB ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Satellite Altimetry ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Offshore Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Energy Resources

Realistic view on the potential of offshore wind farm development in Malaysia is necessary and requires accurate and wide coverage of wind speed data. Long term global datasets of satellite altimetry of wind speed provide a potentially valuable resource to identify the potential of offshore wind energy in Malaysia. This paper presents three different assessments of offshore wind energy resources in Malaysia using satellite altimetry. The wind speed data obtained from Radar Altimeter Database System (RADS) were validated and identified to be in agreement with previous studies. The resources were then assessed at three different levels; theoretical, technical and practical offshore wind energy potential. The technical resource potential was assessed by taking into consideration the available offshore wind turbine technology. Conflicting uses and environmental constraints that define the practical offshore wind energy resources are plotted on the maps to present a practicality of offshore wind farm development in Malaysian sea. The study concluded that, in theoretical view, Malaysia does have potential of offshore wind energy resource especially in Borneo Water with average annual wind energy density above 500 kWh/m2. However, the development of offshore wind farm in Malaysia will be difficult taking into consideration the technical and practical challenge.

scholarly journals Exploring the Grid Value of Offshore Wind Energy in Oregon

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4435
Author(s):  
Travis C. Douville ◽  
Dhruv Bhatnagar
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Resources ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
Resource Complementarity ◽  
Wind Energy Potential

The significant offshore wind energy potential of Oregon faces several challenges, including a power grid which was not developed for the purpose of transmitting energy from the ocean. The grid impacts of the energy resource are considered through the lenses of (i) resource complementarity with Variable Renewable Energy resources; (ii) correlations with load profiles from the four balancing authorities with territory in Oregon; and (iii) spatial value to regional and coastal grids as represented through a production cost model of the Western Interconnection. The capacity implications of the interactions between offshore wind and the historical east-to-west power flows of the region are discussed. The existing system is shown to accommodate more than two gigawatts of offshore wind interconnections with minimal curtailment. Through three gigawatts of interconnection, transmission flows indicate a reduction of coastal and statewide energy imports as well as minimal statewide energy exports.

Climate change impacts on the future offshore wind energy resource in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Costoya ◽  
M. deCastro ◽  
D. Carvalho ◽  
Z. Feng ◽  
M. Gómez-Gesteira
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
The Future

scholarly journals Offshore Wind Energy Resource Assessment across the Territory of Oman: A Spatial-Temporal Data Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2862
Author(s):  
Amer Al-Hinai ◽  
Yassine Charabi ◽  
Seyed H. Aghay Kaboli
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Wind Data ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbines ◽  
Wind Potential

Despite the long shoreline of Oman, the wind energy industry is still confined to onshore due to the lack of knowledge about offshore wind potential. A spatial-temporal wind data analysis is performed in this research to find the locations in Oman’s territorial seas with the highest potential for offshore wind energy. Thus, wind data are statistically analyzed for assessing wind characteristics. Statistical analysis of wind data include the wind power density, and Weibull scale and shape factors. In addition, there is an estimation of the possible energy production and capacity factor by three commercial offshore wind turbines suitable for 80 up to a 110 m hub height. The findings show that offshore wind turbines can produce at least 1.34 times more energy than land-based and nearshore wind turbines. Additionally, offshore wind turbines generate more power in the Omani peak electricity demand during the summer. Thus, offshore wind turbines have great advantages over land-based wind turbines in Oman. Overall, this work provides guidance on the deployment and production of offshore wind energy in Oman. A thorough study using bankable wind data along with various logistical considerations would still be required to turn offshore wind potential into real wind farms in Oman.

scholarly journals Offshore Wind Energy Resource Atlas of Asturias (N Spain)

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (23) ◽  
pp. 1416
Author(s):  
Mario López ◽  
Noel Rodríguez-Fuertes ◽  
Rodrigo Carballo
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Numerical Model ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Power Curve ◽  
Offshore Wind Energy ◽  
The North ◽  
North Of Spain ◽  
First Time

This work assesses for the first time the offshore wind energy resource in Asturias, a region in the North of Spain. Numerical model and observational databases are used to characterize the gross wind energy resource at different points throughout the area of study. The production of several wind turbines is then forecasted on the basis of each technology power curve and the wind speed distributions. The results are mapped for a better interpretation and discussion.

scholarly journals Offshore wind energy potential for Bahrain via multi-criteria evaluation

2020 ◽  
pp. 0309524X2092539
Author(s):  
Mohamed Elgabiri ◽  
Diane Palmer ◽  
Hanan Al Buflasa ◽  
Murray Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Wind Energy ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Energy Yield ◽  
Energy Potential

Current global commitments to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases encourage national targets for renewable generation. Due to its small land mass, offshore wind could help Bahrain to fulfil its obligations. However, no scoping study has been carried out yet. The methodology presented here addresses this research need. It employs analytical hierarchy process and pairwise comparison methods in a geographical information systems environment. Publicly available land use, infrastructure and transport data are used to exclude areas unsuitable for development due to physical and safety constraints. Meteorological and oceanic opportunities are ranked and then competing uses are analyzed to deliver optimal sites for wind farms. The potential annual wind energy yield is calculated by dividing the sum of optimal areas by a suitable turbine footprint to deliver maximum turbine number. In total, 10 favourable wind farm areas were identified in Bahrain’s territorial waters, representing about 4% of the total maritime area, and capable of supplying 2.68 TWh/year of wind energy or almost 10% of the Kingdom’s annual electricity consumption. Detailed maps of potential sites for offshore wind construction are provided in the article, giving an initial plan for installation in these locations.

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