Wind and solar resource potential assessment in bhutan

Abstract

Renewable energy sources have become important part of energy mix in the modern power grid because of limited non-renewable resources, increasing price of fossil fuels and environmental concern due to use of fossil fuels. Wind and solar power technologies are two most mature technologies today which can offset the use of fossil fuel-based power plants and decarbonize the electrical grid. Bhutan is generating renewable power by using its rivers in the run off river hydropower scheme, which is supplied across the whole country. Apart from hydropower small scale wind and standalone solar PV systems are currently operational; limited studies are available on solar and wind power potentials in Bhutan. Therefore, this paper discusses the assessment wind and solar resource potential of some of the selected sites of Bhutan using measured data from local weather stations and also NRELs climate data. The wind data is used to analyze the wind power density and wind power potential using Weibull distribution. Also, wind power potential at different heights are estimated after extrapolating wind speeds using wind log formulae. Wind power potential estimate analysis shows that valleys of Wangduephodrang, Tsirang and Trashiyangtse are found to have good potential for wind farm development. Solar PV system potential assessment using NREL’s TMY data for solar power development Wangduephodrang and Paro valleys is found to have very good potential.