85. Performance Evaluation of Wind Power Projects

Wind energy conversion into electrical energy has several attractive features. Typically higher wind regimes occur in areas with low priority land, i.e., class C and D land. The energy in the wind can easily be converted to mechanical energy by Aeroturbines and to electrical energy by coupling rotary electro-mechanical generators. Wind energy has become a prominent source in the present global energy picture. Selection of Wind Energy Generator (WEG) for wind power generation demands a good knowledge of wind related characteristics such as, site selection, energy output and economical viability of the wind power project. In view of the above facts, the selection of a favorable site, assessment and evaluation of wind power potential and selection of the optimum WEG's for a specific site is developed. The performance evaluation criteria is based on the comparative/evaluation statement of annual energy tabulated by the calculated values of the annual energy generation using power curve of the WEG's, annual capacity factor (ACF), annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) and the power density is calculated from the wind data obtained over a period of few years using weibull parameters. These are the factor considered for performance evaluation for utilization of a wind energy at a given time and site are discussed in this paper.