An open-source web mapping tool to estimate wind energy in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The main disadvantage of wind energy is its high spatial and temporal variability. This paper presents a web mapping tool to communicate to private users both the available wind resource and information to evaluate the suitability of several types of turbine for any point on the Iberian Peninsula. This tool performs on-the-fly three-dimensional interpolation of wind data from a 10 km horizontal grid database previously obtained using a regional climate model and generates a PDF report. It integrates several open-source GIS applications to build a coherent platform that performs advanced calculations and provides graphics and reports of high quality.

Keywords:

• Web mapping
• wind energy
• Iberian Peninsula
• geographic information system
• open source

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the wind data provided by: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Agencia Vasca de Meteorología (EUSKALMET), Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDA), Instituto Tecnológico de Castilla y León (ITCL), Servei Meterologic de Catalunya (METEOCAT), Dirección General de Desarrollo Rural del Gobierno de España (DGDR), Servicio de información Agrometeorológica de la Rioja (SIAR) and Consellería de Medio Ambiente e Desenvolvemento Sostenible de Galicia.

Notes

1. The cut-in wind speed is the minimum wind speed at which the turbine blades overcome friction and begin to rotate. Cut-out speed is the speed at which the turbine blades are brought to rest to avoid damage from high winds.