2011 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
- 335 -
Wind Resource Assessment and Wind Farm
Feasibility in Southern Thailand
C. Chancham*, J. Waewsak*, C. Kongruang*
,
**, Y. Tirawanichakul***,
S. Tirawanichakul****, and N. Matan*****
*Solar and Wind Energy Research Unit
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Thaksin University, (
Thailand
)
**Faculty of Economics Business Administration, Thaksin University, (
Thailand
)
***Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkhla University, (
Thailand
)
****Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkhla University, (
Thailand
)
*****School of Engineering and Resource Management, Walailak University, (
Thailand
)
Abstract
--The main objectives of this research are to
assess wind resource and study the feasibility of a MW wind
farm in southern Thailand. The 3-year wind speed and
weather data recorded during 2008-2010 at the height of 20
m, 30 m, and 40 m from 18 wind energy research stations
were used for simulated and presented. The results showed
that there were 5 potential areas for installing a wind
turbine, i.e., Thachana in Surat Thani province, Chana and
Singha- Nakhon in Songkhla province, and Pakphanang
and Huasai in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. The mean
wind speed was in the range of 2.59-4.64 m/s at the height of
50 m. Results showed that the 1 MW wind turbine
generator could be installed along the coastal line of the
Gulf of Thailand, especially in Surat Thani province, were
utmost possible due to the highest AEP produced by wind
energy and the AEP were in the range of 3.83-5.03.3
GWh/year. The corresponded capacity factors of a MW
wind power plants were in the range of 5.58-14.5%. The
CoE produced by wind energy especially at the potential
sites in Nakhon Si Thammarat province were in the range of
3-6 cents/kWh. Finally, it was found that the 18 MW wind
power plants operation in southern Thailand could avoid
the CO
2
emission of about 118,729 kton CO
2
/year.
Index Terms
—
Wind Resource, Wind Farm, Annual
Energy Production, Capacity Factor
I. N
OMENCLATURE
AEP
Annual energy production
c
Scale parameter (m/s)
CoE
Cost of energy (cents/kWh)
Comr
Operating, maintenance and replacement cost
) (
Vf
Weibull distribution
) (
VF
Cumulative distribution
i
Interest (%)
I
Initial cost
k
Shape parameter (Dimensionless)
P
Power
PVC
Present value cost
r
Real interest (%)
s
Salvage (%)
t
Project time (year)
T
Air temperature (
o
C)
V
Wind speed (m/s)
rV
Wind speed at reference height (m/s)
ZV
Wind speed at height
z
(m/s)
V
Mean speed (m/s)
z
Height (m)
r
z
Reference height (m)
Wind shear coefficient
*
Gamma function
a
U
Air density (kg/m
3
)
II. I
NTRODUCTION
Wind has been proven as a cost effective and reliable
renewable energy source. Technological advancements
over the last decade have placed wind energy in a firm
position to compare with conventional power generation
technologies [1]. The economic viability of wind power
varies across locations based on many factors including
wind speed and variability, land attribute, turbine size,
environmental impact, and public policy [2]. Wind power
has a competitive production cost ranging from 4-8
cents/kWh in comparison to 50-100 cents/kWh for PV
[3]. The production of wind energy is essentially
dependent on the magnitude and regularity of wind
speeds. Moreover, prevailing wind directions lessen the
required separating distances between wind turbines and
thus raise the potential of wind power [4]. For these
reasons, the characteristics of wind speed and directions
should be examined. Wind energy resource was assessed
in many countries during the last decade e.g. Vietnam [3],
Greece [5], Bangladesh [6], Saudi Arabia [7], Taiwan [8],
Canada [9], Oman [10], and Iran in order to exploit it for
wind power towards green and clean power. Although the
penetration of wind generation may displace a significant
amount of energy produced by large conventional power
plant, there are some issues associated with the extent to
which wind power will be able to replace the capacity
and flexibility of conventional power plant [12]. This is
very important since wind power is variable, intermittent,
fluctuating, partly unpredictable, and non-dispatchable.
However, the greenhouse gas emission reduction can be
obtained using wind energy conversion system (WECS).
The influence of the variability of WECS power output,
the geographical spread of the wind farms, the capacity
factor and the capacity credit of the WECS, and the effect
D
