COASTAL WIND-SPEED MODELING FOR WIND ENERGY APPLICATIONS

Given the present interest in siting of turbines in the near-coastal o ffshore zone, an examination of methods of predicting wind speeds in t his area is undertaken. The underlying model is based on 900 mb wind s peeds which has given reasonable results in offshore areas and has the advantage of limited data input. Two approaches are employed, one emp irical and the second based on internal boundary layer theory. Mean wi nd speeds at two near-coastal land sites are predicted with reasonable accuracy but the same results are not achieved for directional wind s peeds. It is shown that the use of internal boundary layer theory give s a zone of coastal wind speed modification which is too narrow, while too large a distance is required for the re-adjustment using the empi rical approach.