Title: Wind characteristics and power density analysis for Vadravadra site in Fiji Islands

Authors: R.D. Prasad, R.C. Bansal, M. Sauturaga

Addresses: School of Applied Science, Fiji Institute of Technology, Suva, Fiji Islands. ' School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia Campus, Qld 4072, Australia. ' Department of Energy, P.O. Box 2493, Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji Islands

Abstract: Due to the rising cost of conventional fuel, increased demand for the electrical energy and the huge amounts of pollution that are occurring in the world today has lead human kind to look for alternative forms of power generation. One of the alternative power sources is wind energy. However, wind is intermittent and to find the economic viability of a site for wind turbine installation, wind resource assessment (WRA) must be carried out to help wind planners to make right decisions. In WRA the wind characteristics for a site must be determined so that the wind speed frequency, duration and diurnal variation in wind speed is known to wind energy planners. Wind rose and turbulence intensity for the site must also be determined. This paper presents wind characteristics and wind power density analysis for Vadravadra site in Gau Island in Fiji.

Keywords: wind characteristics; Windographer; wind power density; WPD; wind resource assessment; WRA; wind energy; Fiji Islands; economic viability; wind farm sites; wind turbines; wind speed frequency; wind speed duration; diurnal variation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIC.2009.024456

International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control, 2009 Vol.6 No.3, pp.173 - 180

Published online: 05 Apr 2009 *

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