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Wind Energy Potential in NORTH AMERICA

Map of mean 80-m wind speeds for year 2000

Wind speeds are calculated at 80 m, the hub height of modern, 77-m diameter, 1500 kW turbines. Since relatively few observations are available at 80 m, the Least Square extrapolation technique is utilized and revised here to obtain estimates of wind speeds at 80 m given observed wind speeds at 10 m (widely available) and a network of sounding stations.

Tower data from the Kennedy Space Center (Florida) were used to validate the results. Globally, ~13% of all reporting stations experience annual mean wind speeds ≥ 6.9 m/s at 80 m (i.e., wind power class 3 or greater) and can therefore be considered suitable for low-cost wind power generation. This estimate is believed to be conservative.

Of all continents, North America has the largest number of stations in class 3 (453).

http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/winds/global_winds.html

Availability of standardized evaluations of the wind energy potential

Wind energy potential can not easily be shown in simple overwiew maps. The map indicates the countries for which wind energy evaluations are available. These have been carried out by means of a standardized method developped by the danish Risø Laboratory.

http://www.energie-atlas.ch/wi-100.htm

Countries

Canada | Greenland | United States of America

Related GENI Resources

Definition Wind Energy
Current Articles on Renewable Energy Resources and Transmission
National Energy Grid Maps

Links

American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
NREL Wind Energy
EERE Wind Energy
CanREN Wind Energy
ACORE
American Renewable Energy (US)