WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT AND

POTENTIAL

PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED TO: PROF. VIGNESH G

WIND ENERGY ENGINEERING (MEE1067)

By

PRAVEEN KUMAR B – 15BCE0064

METHUN S – 15BCE0111
SUDHARSAN S – 15BCE0310
AKASH RAM – 15BME0150

SLOT: E1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank VIT University for giving us the opportunity to work on this project.

We would like to show our gratitude towards our teacher Prof. VIGNESH G for his continuous
support and guidance.

PRAVEEN KUMAR B

METHUN S

SUDHARSAN S

AKASH RAM
INTRODUCTION

Wind energy, which now is one of the emerging fields for tapping
energy, describes the process by which wind is used to generate electricity.
Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power.
Wind power is the use of air flow through wind turbines to mechanically
powered generators for electricity.

The worldwide capacity reached 196,630 Megawatt, out of which

37,642 Megawatt were added in 2010. Wind Resource Assessment is the
most important step in planning a community wind project because it is the
basis for determining initial feasibility and cash flow projections and is
ultimately vital for acquiring financing.

WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT(WRA):

There are three steps in wind resource assessment:

1. Initial assessment
2. Detailed site characterization
3. Detailed cash flow projection and acquiring financing.

WHY WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT?

The power in the wind is proportional to cube of the wind speed WRA
gives out the wind speed analysis. Wind speed, wind shear, turbulence and gust
intensity all need to be specified when procuring a wind turbine and designing
its foundation.

Turbine manufacturers concerns max. turbulence intensity (16%), max

wind shear acting on blade area (0.2) and max one second gust used for
foundation design. WRA are the cornerstone of identifying and mitigating risks.
INITIAL ASSESSMENT:

This step utilizes existing data from state wind resource maps, nearby
publicly available wind resource data, and other weather measurement sites
to make rough projections about the financials of your project. This step
should be used as an indicator to justify a more substantial investment
($10,000- $50,000) to install equipment and hire professionals for a
detailed site characterization.
Wind Maps: The first place to look for wind resource information is
to seek out underlying data projections that may have been used to create
state wind resource maps.
From this assessment, we obtain

1) Monthly average wind speeds

2) Air temperature
3) Relative humidity
4) Atmospheric pressure
5) Earth Temperature

The area enclosed within the green lines are the sites chosen to harness wind
power which have an elevation of about 690-730 ft. But the general problems
that are faced is that wind is mostly blocked by the tall buildings throughout
the city which reduces the wind potential by the time it reaches the wind mill.
The best place to plant wind farm around will be the planes of sathuvacheri
hills which are to the east of Vellore having terrains of elevation from 900-
1500 ft. This provides a great surface to get the maximum output from the
wind farm planted. Due to the very less population around these regions it
is easier to make them understand the benefit from this and thus stop them
from objecting the wind farm.

The longitude and latitude of the location is given as input in NASA

website and obtained the following values:
Latitude 12.55 / Longitude 79.11 was chosen
From the tables it is evident that, when the humidity is in the range of
60%-70%, The wind speed is high enough to generate wind energy.
With varying atmospheric pressure, the wind speed changes, because
wind flows from high pressure to low pressure. IF the difference is
large, then the wind speed increases.
The wind speed is highest during May-August, which has an average
of 3.15 m/s. This is sufficient to run small turbines. But a large scale
power generation is not feasible.

The location of wind turbines is to be on top of the hills. Since, it

provides necessary elevation and also the wind speed increases on the
slope of the hill.

The above picture shows the location of Vellore. (Taken from Google Maps)

For obtaining the contour maps, Data points are plotted on Google earth.
the data is saved as a '.kml' file. This file is opened in TCX software which
gives the altitude of the points. This data is uploaded into SURFER which
gives the contour of the location.
CONCLUSION

Vellore doesn't have sufficient potential to harness large scale power

production. But it is sufficient enough to run small turbines. Considering
the data, solar energy is a better alternative.

ALTERNATIVES

Since the wind speed is sufficient enough to run small turbines, a

collective number of small turbines could be used to store energy in
batteries and transport them.

With increase in technology and many implementations being done in

design aspects, the design of the turbines, design of the blades could be
changed to increase efficiency, (tip speed ratio changes)
But considering on the whole, solar energy would be a better option for
Vellore considering the amount of solar radiation we acquire, Solar energy
could also be a better option.
Also, wind energy is available only for 4 months when compared to solar
energy that is available throughout the year. Due to this, more energy can
be tapped from solar.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/VOVR/2017/3/3/
MonthlyHistory.html?
req_city=Vellore&req_state=TN&req_statename=India&reqdb.zip=00
000&reqdb.magic=34&reqdb.wmo=43303
2. http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/wind%20speed%20data.pdf

3. google earth

4. google maps