Wind modelling finds best turbine sites

Australian Antarctic Division engineers have been studying the potential of the Antarctic katabatic winds as a source of energy. Working remotely from the Division’s Kingston offices and using anemometer data from Mawson station, the location and size of future wind turbines has been optimised, and their potential yield has been calculated.

The proprietary package ‘Windfarm’ is usually used for wind farm sizing. It has been used on the Mawson Alternative Energy Project to refine the project scope from an initial estimate of four turbines to a present estimate of three.

Using topographical and wind data, a three dimensional image of the wind speed at Mawson has been produced (see diagram). From this, the best turbine locations can be selected. A knowledge of the station load profile and the power curves for the turbines has allowed the yield for several combinations of turbine quantity and size to be calculated and these variables to be optimised.

Having selected a turbine and a site, modelling can also be used to calculate the noise and visual impact of the turbines. ‘Windfarm’ can also relate the topographical information to photographs to create images of the turbines as they will look.

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