Efficiency assessments for some state of the art wind turbines in the coastal environments of the Black and the Caspian seas

Abstract

The main objective of the present work is to assess the wind energy resources in the Black and in the Caspian seas. Additionally, the electric power expected to be provided by various state of the art technologies was also evaluated. For this reason, several reference points were considered in the coastal environments of the two areas targeted. In order to assess the wind potential in these locations, 12 year of data coming from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction were processed and analyzed. From the analysis of the wind power density (corresponding to a height of 80 m), it was possible to evaluate the spatial and seasonal distributions of the wind resources, and also to identify some hot spot areas. Since the regions located near the shoreline are under the influence of the diurnal/nocturnal fluctuations, a special attention was paid to this aspect. This is especially due to the fact that the power output of a wind farm project is supposed to be significantly influenced by such variations. In the second part of the work, several offshore wind turbines were considered and their performances were evaluated in relationship with the local wind patterns. Based on these results, we can conclude that important variations may occur between the diurnal and the nocturnal intervals, in terms of both wind velocity and direction, while on a regional scale the northern parts of the Black and the Caspian seas seem to present more consistent wind energy potential. Moreover, this potential is comparable with that from the locations where such offshore wind farms already successfully operate.

Study of the Wave Energy Propagation Patterns in the Western Black Sea

“…Many previous studies, related to the wind energy potential [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], showed that the coastal environment of the Black Sea, and especially its northern and western side, is fully appropriate for the implementation of offshore wind projects. Furthermore, various studies have been also carried out related to the climate change impacts on wind energy potential in the Black Sea [49,50].…”

“…This means the offshore wind becomes now not only the cheapest marine renewable energy resource, but it is also cheaper than some traditional resources. For example, the current average LCOE for atomic energy is still about 11 c€/kWh, or greater [3].Various studies [4][5][6][7] showed that the wind energy resources along the coasts of the Black Sea, and especially in its western side, are comparable with those from many offshore wind farms that are already operational [8][9][10][11]. Thus, it is expected that the high dynamics of the offshore wind industry will have as a result also the implementation of some wind farm projects in the nearshore of the Black Sea, in general and in its western side, which is more energetic, in special.…”

Joint Evaluation of the Wave and Offshore Wind Energy Resources in the Developing Countries

“…The first one is the wind power density (WPD) index, which is frequently used to identify the energy potential of a particular site by evaluating the energy concentrated in the air flow. It can be defined by the following expression [66]:…”

“…Similar to the Beaufort scale, which describes the empirical correlation between the wind speed and a particular sea state [73], also the wind energy potential of a particular site can be identified throughout the wind power classes denoted from C1 to C7 [64][65][66]74], where the latest one represents the most attractive from an energetic perspective. In Table 2 The wind conditions from the intervals 6-9 m/s and higher than 9 m/s are encountered more often, except for the sites AM1, AF1, AF2, AF4, AS3, and AS4, where the interval 3-6 m/s seems to be dominant.…”

Long-Term Analysis of the Black Sea Weather Windows

“…Reported in the year 2018, there is some interest to implement wind projects in (semi) enclosed seas, this being the case of the North (62%), Irish (15%), and Baltic Sea (14%) while on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean is located with only 9% [14]. Beside these regions, some other important basins may become attractive for the implementation of an offshore project, from which we can mention the Mediterranean, Caspian or Black seas [15][16][17].…”