COLORADO ANEMOMETER LOAN PROGRAM
 

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Frequently Asked Questions
Colorado Wind Resource Maps
ALP Sites and Data
Small Wind Electric Systems: A Colorado Consumer's Guide
Small Wind Applications Guide Video
Professional Anemometry
Donations

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Program Goals
Selection Criteria
Lessee Responsibilities
Site Layout and Anchors
Tower Safety
Data Plug Replacement
Ideal Sites
Online Application
 

WIND TURBINE RESOURCES

Zoning
Equipment Information and Dealers
Financing
Links

ABOUT US

Current Personnel
Student Positions
Contact Us

NORWOOD - 10/16/2010 to 3/5/2012

LOCATION DETAILS
Latitude:
N 37° 59.494’ or N 37° 59’ 29.64"
Longitude:
W 108° 13.141’ or W 108° 13’ 8.46"
Survey Meridian:
Colorado, New Mexico Meridian
Township:
43 N
Range:
12 W
Section:
17
Elevation:
9,017 ft. (2,748 m)
Datum:
WGS 84
Tower Type:
NRG Tilt-Up
Tower Height:
98.4 ft (30 m)
Vane Offset (deg):
+326°
Direction Basis:
Magnetic North
Mag. Declination:
10° 20' E, changing by 7' W/yr
Wind Explorer S/N:
0663
Site No.:
3788

 CSU ALP Install Team (from left): Eric Rasbach, Laura Imbler, Kevin Gosselin, Mike Kostrzewa, Daniel Fink, Jacquline Hess and Jan Harris (taking picture).

DATA DETAILS

October 16, 2010 to March 5, 2012:

The anemometer tower was installed on October 16, 2010. The site is located near the top of Big Baldy, on the saddle just south of the peak and about 400 feet from the high voltage transmission lines that run through the area. This site is located on a open ridge, with some scrub oak and small pines below.

All data is collected using an NRG #40 Calibrated Anemometer and NRG #200 Wind Vane mounted on a tilt-up tower located at a height of 20m. The certification for the anemometer is as follows:

NRG #40C Calibrated Anemometer
Model No.
1900
Serial No.
179500142900
Calibration Date
2/9/2010 2:05:50 p.m.
Slope
0.753 m/s per Hz
Offset
0.38 m/s

Note: An NRG #110S temperature sensor with a radiation shield was installed at a height of 2 m.

This equipment feeds into an NRG Wind Explorer data logger. All data plugs are sent to the Colorado ALP at Colorado State University for analysis. The data plug files and text versions of these files are given below.

Raw Wind Data Files
NRG Data Plug Files
Txt Files
Highest
2 sec
Gust
m/s
Gust
Date/Time
Norwood_3788_2010_1016_1214.A10 Norwood_3788_2010_1016_1214.txt
40
11/21/2010 17:27
Norwood_3788_2010_1214_0303.A10 Norwood_3788_2010_1214_0303.txt
36
12/21/2010 11:35
Norwood_3788_2011_0303_0601.A11 Norwood_3788_2011_0303_0601.txt
40
5/29/2011 13:04
Norwood_3788_2011_0601_1009.A11 Norwood_3788_2011_0601_1009.txt
35
10/5/2011 23:18
Norwood_3788_2011_1009_0305.A11 Norwood_3788_2011_1009_0305.txt
34
11/18/2011 18:56

It is important to note that these are the raw files without any compensation for offset. It is also important to note that the temperature was not recorded during this period.

Using this data, an analysis of the wind resource report was developed using Windographer 2.45. For this data an offset of +326° was applied to the wind vane data. This data was flagged for icing in two ways:

  1. Any wind speed data where the wind speed was less than 0.5 m/s at a temperature less than 0°C for 2 hours or more was flagged and not included in the wind resource analysis calculations
  2. Any wind direction data where the wind direction varied by less than 3 degrees at a temperature less than 0°C for 2 hours or more was flagged and not included in the wind resource analysis calculations

A summary report, the combined data files (with and without the validation analysis), and the Windographer files (with and without the validation analysis) are given below:

Interim Wind Resource Summary

Highlights of the wind resource to date at this site are shown below:

Data Properties
Variable
Data Set Starts:
10/16/2010 14:40 MST
Height above ground (m)
30
Data Set Ends:
3/5/2012 16:40
10-min. mean wind speed (m/s)
6.029
Data Set Duration:
17 months
10-min median wind speed (m/s)
4.550
Length of Time Step:
10 minutes
10-min min. wind speed (m/s)
0.380
Elevation:
9,017 ft/2,748 m
10-min max wind speed (m/s)
30.620
Mean air density (kg/m³):
0.912
10-min standard deviation (m/s)
4.687
Wind Power Coefficients
Weibull k
1.339
Power Density at 50m:
422 W/m²
Weibull c (m/s)
6.582
Wind Power Class:
4 (Good)
Mean power density (W/m²)
343
Wind Shear Coefficients
Mean energy content (kWh/m²/yr)
3,003
Power Law Exponent:
0.121
Mean turbulence intensity
0.178
Surface Roughness:
0.01 m
Energy pattern factor
3.449
Roughness Class:
0.78
Total data elements
364,380
Roughness Description:
Rough Pasture
Flagged wind speed data elements
146
Flagged direction data elements
6,676
Missing data elements
16
Data recovery rate (%)
98.1
Note: The wind power density and wind power class at 50m are projections of the data from 30m. A surface roughness of 0.01 meters was assumed for this projection. This is the surface roughness for a rough pasture. This value was then used this to calculate the roughness class and the power law exponent shown above.

 

Vertical Wind Shear, Height (m) vs Mean Wind Speed (m/s)

 

Wind Energy Rose at 30 meters

 

Wind Frequency Rose at 30 meters

 

Daily Wind Speed Profile, Hourly Mean Wind Speed at 30 meters (m/s) vs. Hour of the Day

 

Seasonal Wind Speed Profile, Monthly Mean Wind Speed at 30 meters (m/s) vs. Month

 

Probability Distribution Function at 30 meters: Frequency (%) vs. Wind Speed (m/s)

Windographer was used to match up the wind at this site with the performance curves of some common turbines of various sizes and various heights. The table below shows the results. For the larger turbines, the tower height was increased to account for the larger turbine blades - the wind resource was extrapolated to these higher heights. Keep in mind that the larger and the higher the turbine, the better the wind and the greater the output. But of course, as the tower heights and turbine sizes increase so does the cost.

Keep in mind too that listing a particular turbine doesn't imply an endorsement - not does it imply that installing a particular turbine model is feasible or recommended for a particular site. For consistency, the larger turbines are included even at sites that where they may not be practical so that one can compare the relative production of different sites.

Turbine
Rotor
Diameter
meters
Rotor
Power
kW
Hub
Height
meters
Hub
Height
Wind
Speed
m/s
Time
At
Zero
Output
percent
Time
At
Rated
Output
percent
Average
Net
Power
Output
kW
Average
Net
Energy
Output
kWh/yr
Average
Net
Capacity
Factor
%
Bergey Excel-R
6.7
7.5
30 6.03 34.5 7.4 1.8 15,400 23.4
Bergey Excel-S
6.7
10
30 6.03 19.0 5.6 2.1 18,800 21.4
Bergey XL.1
2.5
1
30 6.03 7.7 11.7 0.3 2,400 27.9
Southwest Skystream 3.7
3.7
1.8
30 6.03 29.6 0.0 0.4 3,700 23.7
Southwest Whisper 500
4.5
3
30 6.03 33.9 9.4 0.9 7,500 28.5
Northen Power NW100 21m
21
100
37 6.18 28.7 0.0 19.7 172,900 19.7
GE 1.5s
70.5
1,500
64.7 6.62 37.0 9.8 331.5 2,904,100 22.1
GE 1.5xle
82.5
1,500
80 6.79 30.4 10.2 373.9 3,275,700 24.9
GE 2.5xl
100
2,500
75 6.74 29.1 10.2 658.6 5,769,500 26.3
GE 3.0s
90
3,000
70 6.68 38.6 4.6 588.7 5,156,700 19.6
Vestas V90 - 1.8 MW
90
1,800
80 6.79 28.9 10.6 515.1 4,512,200 28.6
Vestas V90 - 2.0 MW
90
2,000
80 6.79 28.9 10.4 552.7 4,841,600 27.6
Vestas V90 - 3.0 MW 109.4 dB(A)
90
3,000
80 6.79 25.9 2.9 668.2 5,853,400 22.3
Vestas V100 - 1.8 MW
100
1,800
80 6.79 27.8 10.7 542.0 4,747,900 30.1
Vestas V100 - 2.0 MW
100
2,000
80 6.79 28.7 4.4 580.4 5,084,400 29.0
Vestas V100 - 2.6 MW
100
2,600
75 6.74 28.0 5.9 679.6 5,953,500 26.1
Vestas V112 - 3.0 MW
112
3,075
84 6.83 28.4 10.6 882.0 7,726,600 28.7

IMPORTANT: No turbine losses are included in the power, energy, and capacity factor values in the table. Typically, turbine losses can be 5-20% to account for maintenance downtime, icing/soiling and losses from other turbines in a wind farm. Users wanting to be conservative in the performance projections should multiply the power, energy, and capacity values by (1- % losses) to account for these losses.


For more information Contact Us!

 



Disclaimer | Equal Opportunity | Contact CSU
© 2008 Mechanical Engineering,
Colorado State University. All Rights Reserved.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA (970) 491-7709
Last updated: June 2009
Email questions & comments to: michael@engr.colostate.edu
This page is Javascript enabled. Turn on Javascript to view.