Effects of local ambient air temperatures on wind park performance: case of the Kaberten wind park

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of extreme high ambient air temperature on the performance of a wind farm operating in Algeria Saharan area. The analysis is carried out using in-situ field-data and the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). The predicted annual energy production is compared to the actual performance of the wind farm. Then the influence of the air density variation on the AEP prediction is evaluated. It is shown that the error on predicted AEP is reduced when one take into account the monthly variation of the air density.

KEYWORDS:

• Wind park
• resource assessment
• WAsP
• air density
• AEP

Acknowledgments

The data used in this work were provided by SKTM through a SKTM-CDER convention. The authors highly thank Mr. Laroui Rachid, head of the Kaberten wind farm, as well as Mr. Boulekhrass, PDG of SKTM for their profitable collaboration