Abstract
ENERGY RATIO ANALYSIS OF THE 5.1MW NGONG WIND FARM, KENYA
John Keru Mwangi*, Kinyua R. and Kamau J. N.
ABSTRACT
Wind power does not take place under idealized conditions therefore actual energy production regularly deviates from the turbine manufacturer’s power curve. The origin for a lower or higher than predicted energy production for a wind farm in operation can be identified only by performance verification. This research has studied performance of the 5.1MW Ngong wind farm in Kenya in relation to the wind energy available. Parameters of analysis were wind characteristics, energy production and system availability. Wind speed and direction data for twelve months was acquired and using Weibull statistics the diurnal and monthly variability were obtained. The mean annual wind speeds on the wind farm ranged between 7.861 m/s and 9.254 m/s, the Weibull shape parameter values ranged between 2.169 and 2.323, while the Weibull scale parameter values ranged between 8.69 m/s and 10.427 m/s. Wind Rose analysis showed that the wind direction was fairly consistent between 900 and 1350. The wind annual energy contents available for conversion ranged from 3317 kWh/m2/yr to 5351kWh/m2/yr and overall energy ratio of the wind farm was obtained as 28.09 % against the total energy in the wind. The energy ratio analysis distinguished malfunctioning turbines, improved performance after repair and variance in roughness height due to vegetation cover. The study established that, the wind farm performance could be increased by improving availability of systems and management of vegetation cover on areas adjacent to the wind farm.
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