Prediction Technologies of the Power Production of Wind Farms

Overview

Since the amount of electricity generated by wind power is proportional to the cube of wind speed, it is necessary to predict winds with high accuracy. To construct high-efficiency wind farms, Osaka Gas is working on developing and applying wind prediction and simulation technology.

Features

Since we already had accumulated knowledge through simulations predicting complex wind streams in the proximity of buildings intended to predict diffusions of exhaust gas from cogeneration systems, we optimized calculation region setting, mesh configuration, numerical methods and the like and established a prediction technique. We examined the reliability of prediction results at an existing wind plant and confirmed that the technique was sufficiently reliable. Moreover, we developed a framework for predicting wind plant outputs overseas as well as in Japan, refining the prediction technique to be applicable to overseas geographic and weather observation data.

Future Plans

The newly developed technique has been applied to predict power generation output at the wind farm projects in which the Daigas Group has participated. Osaka Gas will use the present technique not only to predict wind plant outputs but also to improve power plant outputs by optimizing wind turbine placement.
In addition, using mesoscale meteorological simulations, Osaka Gas is working on technology development for predicting winds and solar radiation several days ahead and will promote more efficient operation of renewable energy systems.