Offshore Wind Energy Mapping for Thailand using Coupled MC2/MS-Micro Modeling
Jompob Waewsak1, Chana Chancham1 Mathieu Landry2 and Yves Gagnon2
1Solar and Wind Energy Research Laboratory (SWERL) Research Center in Energy and Environment
Division of Physics, Faculty of Science, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, 93110, Thailand
2Université de Moncton, Edmundston (NB), Canada
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the offshore wind energy potential of the Gulf of Thailand using coupled MC2/MS-Micro modeling. A coupled mesoscale-microscale model is used, along with R1 NCEP/NCAR global reanalysis database, to generate a high resolution (200 m) wind resource map. Results show that interesting potential areas for offshore wind farm development have wind speeds of up to 6.5 m/s, especially in the upper part of the Gulf of Thailand, covering a surface of 2,112 km2. With a total potential installed capacity of 5,000 MW, the annual energy production is estimated at 9.64 TWh/year.
Keywords: Atmospheric Modeling, Wind Resource Assessment, Wind Energy, Wind Turbine Generator, Wind Power
NU Science Journal 2014; 11(1): 47 - 56
