Make Wind Pay is a small white paper that I wrote as an indication of the typical steps needed when it comes to small and medium wind site assessment.
You can download the pdf document here: MAKE WIND PAY white paper
Feel free to use it and distribute it as much as you want, all we ask is that you mention our work if using this document.
Below is preview of the document:
For how long do I need to log wind?
It is strongly advised to log for a least a year.
How accurate needs to be my equipment?
Anemometers need to be at least 1% accurate and with a resolution of 0.1m/s. Class 1 anemometers will come with a traceable certificate confirming the accuracy of the anemometer and wind vane.
A small economic wind sensor tends to have a +/-5% accuracy, however these are often calibrated with +/-5% accuracy measurement equipment. To add to this, weather conditions vary ±20% from year to year.
What do all these tolerances mean in terms of ROI? It means that if not using accurate equipment, energy calculations can easily deviate from 72% to a 132%. This is without taking into consideration the quality and sitting of the wind mast.
A wind turbine is a big investment and you should make a well informed decision. The same way a potential site can be overestimated on energy, it can be underestimated losing a potential site or customer.
Fig.4
Opto-electronic transformers and AC-generators have proved to be the most suitable transducers for its robustness.
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