Wind resource assessment and energy potential of selected locations in Fiji
Dayal, Kunal K. ; Cater, John E. ; Kingan, Michael J. ; Bellon, Gilles D. ; Sharma, Rajnish N.
This study summarizes an assessment of the wind resource at selected locations in Fiji for the potential of future utility-scale wind-power development. We use 2-8 years of near surface wind observations (2011-2018) from thirty automatic weather stations. The standard wind-industry software, WAsP is used to simulate the wind resource in terms of mean wind speed, dominant wind direction, power density and annual energy production (AEP) using a Vergnet 275-kW wind turbine. Our analysis identifies three sites: Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Udu, which should be considered for a future comprehensive resource assessment for utility-scale wind-power development once further wind resource data is available. High-resolution resource maps for each wind resource parameter at a horizontal resolution of 50 m are produced for 6 km×6 km domains around these sites. Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Udu have average wind speeds of 7.6 m/s, 7.1 m/s and 7.0 m/s, with an average power density of 401 W/m2, 512 W/m2 and 294 W/m2, and a potential average AEP of 0.91 GWh, 0.80 GWh and 0.72 GWh at 55 m AGL, respectively. The dominant wind direction is southeasterly. Modelling a 10 MW wind farm at each site yields a net AEP of 43 GWh, 42 GWh and 37 GWh for Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Udu, respectively with capacity factors of 0.42-0.48 and wind farm efficiencies of 97-98%.</p>
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