Based on the fact that the wind speed tends to increase as we go from onshore to offshore, the aim of this work is to perform an analysis of a Romanian coastal sector located near the Danube Delta. Over the course of 20 years (2001–2020), in situ observations and reanalysis data (ERA5 and MERRA-2) of the local wind conditions were evaluated from a meteorological and renewable point of view. This evaluation includes two onshore sites (Galati and Tulcea), one site located near the shoreline (Sulina) and also two offshore sites defined at 64 and 126 km from the coastline. From the comparison with in situ measurements, it was found that ERA5 shows a better agreement with the onshore sites, while for the Sulina site the MERRA-2 is more accurate. Additionally, it was highlighted that by using only four values per day of reanalysis data (00:06:12:18 UTC), the average wind speed is similar with the one from the hourly data. As for a wind turbine performance (hub height of 100 m), in the case of the onshore sites the downtime period is much higher during the night (up to 63%) compared to only 23% indicated by the offshore ones during the entire day.
In the context of the European Green Deal implementation, it is expected that there will be an increase in number of the wind farms located near the coastal areas in order to support this initiative. The Black Sea represents an important source of wind energy, and as a consequence, in the present work the regional wind resources (onshore and offshore) are evaluated by considering a total of 20 years of ERA5 wind data covering the 20-year time interval from January 2002 to December 2021. From a general perspective, it is clear that the offshore areas (100 km from the shoreline) are defined by much higher wind speed values than in the onshore, reaching an average of 8.75 m/s for the points located on the western sector. During the winter, these values can go up to 8.75 m/s, with the mention that the northern sectors from Ukraine and Russia may easily exceed 8 m/s. In terms of the wind turbines’ selection, for the offshore areas defined by consistent wind resources, generators will be considered that are defined by a rated wind speed of 11 m/s. Finally, we can mention that a theoretical offshore wind turbine of 20 MW can reach a capacity factor located between 20.9 and 48.3%, while a maximum annual electricity production of 84.6 GWh may be obtained from the sites located near the Romanian and Ukrainian sectors, respectively.
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