Page 343 - Fluid Power Engineering

Planning and Execution of W ind Projects 303

Prospecting
This is the first step in a wind project with activities that involve eval-
uating various sites. The following steps are a guide to prospecting;
experienced wind project developers may not follow all the steps de-
scribed below.

1. Identify regions with good wind resources, good transmis-
sion, good sale price for energy, good incentives, and good
access. Prospecting is a subjective process that involves sub-
stantial judgment. Experienced wind developers working on
a large wind project will have cutoff criteria like, at least 7 m/s
average wind speed, at least 115 kV transmission line within
a mile, at least $0.055/kWh of PPA, at least $0.02/kWh in in-
centives, and site with average construction costs. This step
is not necessary if the wind project under consideration is a
medium- (< 5 MW) or small-wind project in a predetermined
area (ranch, farm, house).
2. Preliminary wind assessment. In this step, publicly available
wind data or previously measured wind data is used to per-
form preliminary assessment of wind conditions. The out-
come of this stage is: Average wind speed, average annual
energy production, and average capacity factors. In addition,
preliminary financial assessment is performed to check if a
site meets financial performance criteria.
3. Site visit to evaluate suitability of site for wind development. Al-
though desktop-based tools provide detailed Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) data and 3-D images of a site, there
is no substitute to a site visit. During the site visit, suitability
is determined with respect to key development issues: Trans-
mission, zoning, site access, land ownership, easements, set-
backs, natural resources, compatibility with existing land use,
and special site conditions. Site visit should include detailed
documentation of landscape, roads, transmission, wildlife,
and vegetation.

The outcome of the prospecting step is selection of sites for wind
measurement.

Wind Measurement and Detailed Wind Assessment
In this step, onsite wind measurement is performed and the data is
used to perform a detailed wind assessment. The tasks involved in
this stage are:

Wind measurement locations and methods. Based on preliminary

wind assessment, locations for wind measurement are identi-
fied; this is described in more detail in Chapter 6. In addition,