Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830 Pacific Northwest Laboratory Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute DISCLAIMER This report was prcparcd as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor Battelle Memorial Institute, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for theaccuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Refcrcncc hcrcin to any spccific commercial product, process, or scrvicc by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwisedoes not necessarilyconstitute or-imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Uniled States Government or any agency Ihcreof, or Ualtelle Memorial Institute. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Governmcnt or any agency thereof. PACIFIC NOKTHWEST LABORATORY operated by BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE for the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY under Contract DE-AC06-76RL 0 1830 Printed in the United States of America Availahle to DOE and DOE contractors frum the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridse, TN 37t131; prices availahle from (61 5) 576-U4Ol. FTS 6Z6-U4UlI

A wind energy resource assessment of the Caribbean and Central America has identified many areas with good t o outstanding wind resource potential f o r wind turbi ne appl i c a t i ons. Annual average wind resource maps and summary tabl es have been developed f o r 35 i s l andlcountry areas throughout the Caribbean and Central America region. The wind resource maps high1 ight the locations of major resource areas and provide estimates of the wind energy resource potential f o r typical well-exposed s i t e s i n these areas. The average energy in the wind flowing in the layer near the ground is expressed as a wind power class: the greater the average wind energy, the higher the wind power class. The summary tabl es t h a t a r e included w i t h each of the 35 island/country wind energy maps provide information on the frequency distribution of the wind speeds (expressed a s estimates of the Weibull shape factor, k) and seasonal variations i n the wind resource f o r the major wind resource areas identified on the maps. A new wind power class legend has been developed f o r relating the wind power classes t o values of mean wind power density, mean wind speed, and Weibull k. Guide1 ines are presented on how t o adjust these values t o various heights above ground f o r different roughness and t e r r a i n characteri s t i c s .Information evaluated in preparing the assessment included existing meteorological data from airports and other weather s t a t i o n s , and from ships and buoys i n offshore and coastal areas. In addition, new data from recent measurement s i t e s established f o r wind energy s i t i n g studies were obtained f o r a few areas of the Caribbean. Other types of information evaluated in the assessment were climatological data and maps on winds a l o f t , surface pressure, a i r flow, and topography. The various data were screened and evaluated f o r t h e i r usefulness in preparing the wind resource assessment. Much of the surface data from airports and other land-based weather stations were determined t o be from sheltered s i t e s and were thus not very useful in assessing the wind resource a t locations t h a t are we1 1 exposed t o the winds. Ship data were determined t o be the most useful f o r estimating the large-scale wind flow and assessing the spatial distribution of the wind resource throughout the region. Techniques were developed f o r analyzing and correcting ship wind data and extrapolating these data t o coastal and inland areas by considering terrain influences on the large-scale wind flow. In areas where extrapolation of ship wind data was not entirely feasible, such as i n t e r i o r areas of Central America, other techniques were developed for estimating the wind flow and distribution of the wind resource.Through the application of the various innovative techniques developed for assessing the wind resource throughout the Caribbean and Central America region, many areas with potentially good t o outstanding wind resource were identified that had not been previous...

This program models the turbulent wind encountered by a point on a rotating wind turbine blade by transforming a time series of the wind speed measured by anemometers on either a single tower or a multi-tower array from eulerian to rotational coordinates.

Estimates of wind electric potential and available windy land area in the contiguous United States, calculated in 1991, have been revised by incorporating actual data on the distribution of environmental exclusion areas where wind energy development would be prohibited or severely restricted. The new gridded data base with actual environmental exclusion areas, in combination with a "moderate" land-use scenario, is the basis for developing the first gridded maps of available windy land and wind electric potential. Gridded maps for the 48 contiguous states show the estimated windy land area and electric potential for each grid cell (1/4 o latitude by 1/3o longitude). These new maps show the distribution of the estimated wind eiectric potential and available windy land within an individuai state, unlike previous national maps that only show estimates of the total wind electric potential for the state as a whole. While changes for some individual states are fairly large (in percentage), on a national basis, the estimated windy land area and wind electric potential are only about 1% to 2% higher than estimated in 1991.

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