Wind resource assessment and energy potential of selected locations in Fiji

Abstract

Abstract 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\xa0m are produced for 6 \xa0km × 6 \xa0km domains around these sites. Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Udu have average wind speeds of 7.6\xa0m/s, 7.1\xa0m/s and 7.0\xa0m/s, with an average power density of 401\xa0W/m2, 512\xa0W/m2 and 294\xa0W/m2, and a potential average AEP of 0.91\xa0GWh, 0.80\xa0GWh and 0.72\xa0GWh at 55\xa0m AGL, respectively. The dominant wind direction is southeasterly. Modelling a 10\xa0MW wind farm at each site yields a net AEP of 43\xa0GWh, 42\xa0GWh and 37\xa0GWh for Rakiraki, Nabouwalu and Udu, respectively with capacity factors of 0.42–0.48 and wind farm efficiencies of 97–98%.