Thesis
Wind turbine capacity planning approximations for northwest United States utilities
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101971
Abstract
As global demand for electricity increases and the concern for its environmental impact comes to the center of political debate, the world is looking to new sources that will meet these increases while at the same time lessening environmental impact. In response to this, both utilities and governments are looking toward renewable resources. Hydroelectric has been the most prevalent form of renewable energy, having been in use in the United States for over 100 years. But due to the impact imposed on both the land and spawning fish, this form of renewable energy has fallen into disfavor in recent decades. As an alternative, wind energy seems to have become the large-scale renewable of choice. Recent strides in wind turbine technology have allowed for the placement of large wind generation sites or wind farms. However, wind is sporadic by nature and imposes a high level of uncertainty into utility operations. Moreover, wind has great seasonal and geographic dependencies that require intensive planning studies. In this thesis, a simplified model is proposed that will allow utilities in the Northwest United States to plan the amount of wind generation capacity that will be needed to supply a modest portion of total load and to meet state mandated renewable requirements. Assumptions are proposed that can convert collected wind speed data into a combined wind farm megawatt output. The model allows for analysis of wind turbine output from proposed sites with relative geographic dispersion to determine correlation. Based on this model, system load from Tacoma Public Utilities will be compared to the combined wind farm output using appropriate statistical computations. Throughout this work comparisons are drawn with previous efforts to determine if the conclusions reached are consistent with those studies that were similar in scope. The objective will be to determine with fair certainty the amount of wind generation Tacoma Public Utilities will require to meet both its own renewable goals and Washington State's Renewable Portfolio Standard.
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Details
- Title
- Wind turbine capacity planning approximations for northwest United States utilities
- Creators
- Chad L. Edinger
- Contributors
- Kevin Tomsovic (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Identifiers
- 99900525141701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis