Using regional climate center data to predict small wind turbine performance

The use of renewable energy systems may be attractive to environmental professionals who are designing and operating groundwater cleanup systems because of potential cost savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The energy demands of many remediation systems are relatively small, and wind turbines marketed for domestic use may be suitable for such applications. Collecting site-specific wind velocity data necessary for performance modeling may be cost prohibitive compared to the cost of the small wind turbine system. The feasibility characterization is also complicated by siting the wind turbine according to the location of the groundwater contamination rather than the location of the optimum wind resource. The use of non site-specific wind velocity data, such as that available from a regional database may be a cost-effective means for predicting wind turbine performance. Monte Carlo models were developed to compare wind turbine performance predictions calculated using remote wind velocity data to actual wind turbine performance at a Nebraska Superfund site. The Monte Carlo models may have applications at other sites and for wind turbines used to power other types of loads such as groundwater pumping or remote households. © 2009 ASCE.