The ATA report, The Victorian Urban Wind Resource Assessment, looks at typical wind regimes at ten urban sites within 25 km of Melbourne’s CBD and comments on the suitability of urban locations for installation of micro wind turbines (MWTs).
At the launch of the report, speakers included Clean Energy Council CEO Mathew Warren, John Edgoose from Sustainability Victoria, the author of the report Mike Bagot, and Brett Dutton from Hepburn Wind.
Urban wind assessment
Mr Edgoose said that the motivation behind the report was interest from the community regarding the feasibility of MWTs in urban areas. This report on wind resource follows the desktop study on MWT technology conducted by the ATA in 2007.
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In order to generate sufficient power, Mr Bagot agreed that a good MWT site should have average wind speeds of 5 metres per second with low turbulence levels.
Covering ten sites within 25 km of Melbourne’s CBD, the aim of the project was to produce an empirical appraisal of the energetic characteristics of typical urban wind regimes, and provide commentary on the suitability of urban locations for installation of MWTs.
Mr Bagot introduced the measurement methodology and technology, the sites where the anemometers were installed and what the data collected suggests in regard to the operation of MWTs in urban areas.
The report used a combination of wind speed data and wind turbulence data, finding that in a coastal location and atop a building in the CBD the wind resource may support a MWT.
The results of this study suggest that “favourable wind energy characteristics are likely to be strongly associated with open terrain and/or substantial elevation above the aerodynamically rough layer of the urban landscape.
“MWTs installed in typical built-up urban terrain are likely to operate at low capacity factors, suffer protracted periods of non-operation and have long payback periods.”
Mr Bagot recommended that further research in this area concentrate on establishing standards for measuring turbulence in urban environments, modelling the effects of turbulence parameters on MWT performance and verifying the accuracy of derived Weibull curves and manufacturer power curves in predicting MWT performance. He reiterated the necessity of a site specific wind resource assessment.
Mr Edgoose concluded that Sustainability Victoria does not envisage MWT being widely deployed in the urban environment, however there may be niches where it could be used.
At the launch, Mr Warren delivered a comprehensive summary of Australia’s wind assets and the potential for the resource in this country. He explained that in the clean energy sector, the policy debate is in its infancy with supportive government legislation and funding imperative for the development of the sector.
Mr Dutton presented an update on the Hepburn Wind project. The community renewable energy project will see 2 x 2 megawatt (MW) turbines installed with a capacity of 12,200 megawatt hours able to negate the community’s carbon footprint by powering 2,300 homes. He expects that construction will begin by mid-2010.
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