Wind Characteristics and Wind Energy Potential in Andean Towns in Northern Peru between 2016 and 2020: A Case Study of the City of Chachapoyas

Abstract

Currently, climate change and population growth have a significant impact on human beings. Furthermore, these factors are generating a great need for energy to sustain present-day pace of life. For this reason, this research aims to determine the wind potential of the city of Chachapoyas, through the study of wind direction and speed using a wind rose. Data were obtained from the Metrological Station located on the University Campus of the National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza (UNTRM) for developing this diagram. The mentioned station had 15% of missing data, therefore a quality control of the data and multiple imputations was carried out to fill in any missing data. The results obtained show that the winds in this area are mostly weak (from 0 to 3 m/s) with an East-Northeast (ENE) and Northeast (NE) direction for both the studied period and for each year of the period. It has also been determined that there is a difference between the wet and dry seasons in terms of wind frequency. Finally, we conclude that, in the city of Chachapoyas, it is possible to generate wind energy by using low-power vertical axis wind turbines.

Renewable Energy from Wind Farm Power Plants in Peru: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

“…To respond to this increase in energy demand, the supply of electricity generation that the country requires must be met in the short term. In this sense, and given the international pressure towards a sustainable energy matrix, energy generation must tend towards being clean [25,26]. Thus, considering the renewable energy potential which Peru has, a viable option is to increase the energy supply through electrical generation that uses non-conventional renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal energy [27][28][29].…”

“…However, despite this, Peru presents climatic phenomena known as El Niño and La Niña (ENSO), which modify the average wind speed in the years during which they occur. [26]. Determining its seasonality is extremely important for wind analysis studies influencing energy production [45].…”

“…Although an important and promising industrial development in renewable energy has been achieved in Peru through the on-shore wind farms in operation, the development and promotion of the implementation of renewable wind energy on a smaller scale still needs to be implemented, especially in rural areas, where it could generating energy supply for remote communities. This would benefit many communities that still do not have electricity, promoting rural electrification and access to energy by all citizens in a renewable, equitable, and non-polluting manner [25,26,28].…”