Wind Turbulence Intensity at La Ventosa, Mexico: A Comparative Study with the IEC61400 Standards

Abstract

Wind speed turbulence intensity is a crucial parameter in designing the structure of wind turbines. The IEC61400 considers the Normal Turbulence Model (NTM) as a reference for fatigue load calculations for small and large wind turbines. La Ventosa is a relevant region for the development of the wind power sector in Mexico. However, in the literature, there are no studies on this important parameter in this zone. Therefore, we present an analysis of the turbulence intensity to improve the understanding of local winds and contribute to the development of reliable technical solutions. In this work, we experimentally estimate the turbulence intensity of the region and the wind shear exponent in terms of atmospheric stability to analyze the relation of these design parameters with the recommended standard for large and small wind turbines. The results showed that the atmosphere is strongly convective and stable in most of the eleven months studied. The turbulence intensity analysis showed that for a range of wind speeds between 2 and 24 m/s, some values of the variable measured were greater than those recommended by the standard, which corresponds to 388 hours of turbulence intensity being underestimated. This may lead to fatigue loads and cause structural damage to the technologies installed in the zone if they were not designed to operate in these wind speed conditions.