New methodology for the generation of hourly wind speed data applied to the optimization of stand-alone systems

Abstract

This paper introduces a new methodology for the generation of hourly wind-speed data, used in the optimization of stand-alone systems. Hourly wind-speed data have been logged for many years at meteorological stations located near large cities and airports. However, in off-grid rural areas, where stand-alone systems - such as Wind-Batteries or Hybrid-Wind-Batteries - can be installed, hourly wind-speed data are not usually known. Monthly average windspeed data can be obtained from a meteorological atlas, or from certain Internet sites, such as the NASA website. The methodology presented here shows the generation of hourly wind-speed data using only the 12-monthly average wind-speed data values and the form factor of the Weibull distribution. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.