An integrated wind resource assessment tool for wind farm planning: System's upgrades and applications

An integrated wind resource assessment tool (WRAT) was previously developed and tested to support wind energy studies during the pre-feasibility stage. This WRAT was applied across a 4-year period to assess the wind potential of the Tuscany region (Italy) according to a 2-km spatial resolution based on 120x107 (12840) gridded points. This application provided the input to a GIS-based interactive web decision support system aimed at wind farm planning in Tuscany. In the present work all significant upgrades implemented to the WRAT are described, as well as their main on-site applications performed within wind energy studies in the recent literature. Main WRAT upgrades include: (i) integration of further wind turbine models into system's database; (ii) wind power density function; (iii) wind speed vertical extrapolation based on logarithmic law and power law; (iv) annual energy yield uncertainty assessment; (v) wind data import and processing at 10-min time bin; (vi) computation of wind turbulence parameters such as turbulence intensity and gust factor; (vii) turbulence intensity vs. wind speed plot and compliance assessment to the IEC standards. In the end, a number of system's limitations are also pointed out, as well as further upgrades to be possibly implemented in the near future to overcome some of those limitations.