Assessment of wind energy potential for selecting wind turbines: An application to Thailand

Wind energy assessment plays a critical role on determining installation of wind turbines in many countries worldwide. Wind analysis and economic analysis are proposed to systematically assess the potential of electrical energy production for commercial wind turbines. Statistical information of wind data and power curves of wind turbines are applied for determination of factors in decision making such as annual energy production and capacity factor. Accordingly, financial indices and reductions of both fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide generation are examined for installing potential wind turbines. The uncertainties of financial indices are determined under variances of parametric inputs within confidence intervals. Case studies are investigated in the central region of Thailand, which has a high demand for electricity. Annual mean wind speed is between 3 m/s and 5 m/s along directions of tropical monsoons. With the proposed methodology, a wind turbine with low cut-in wind speed, such as the Vestas™ V60 850 kW, can be recommended as one of the most feasible wind turbines for electricity generation in green economy under weak and moderate wind conditions in the considered sites. The annual energy production has the most impact on the uncertainty in the net present value, among other financial parameters.