Distribution of Wind Speed
The average value of strength of wind does not alone give a accurate measure of amount energy produced by a wind turbine. Typically, to get a idea of wind speed at a location observed wind data is fitted for a probability distribution function. Weibull model is used as actual distribution of wind speed hourly at many locations. Since the Weibull factor is close to 2, a simpler Rayleigh distribution model is used.
It is known that much of the energy generated from wind turbines comes from short bursting higher wind speeds. Half of the wind energy generated comes in just 15% of the operation time. Due to bursty nature of wind energy as oppose to fuel-fired power plants, wind power is primarly used as a fuel saver than a capacity saver. For winds power to be consistant requires linking wide array of wind farms linked via a inter-regional transmission lines. The bursty energy production nature needs to be addressed by grid energy storage, pumped-storage, and better energy demand management.
Browse following is articles listed: