Wind potential evaluation in the Canary Islands using GIS

Authors

  • Julieta Schallenberg-Rodríguez Author
  • Jesús Notario del Pino Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj09.333

Abstract

The Canary Islands (Spain) are highly dependent on external energy sources. For 2015, the Canarian Energy Plan establishes that 30% of the electricity demand will be covered by renewable energy sources, mainly wind and solar (the goal for wind energy is 1025 MW). Therefore, it is crucial to determine the wind potential for each island as a first step for the energy planning. Within this work, a novel methodology based on GIS (Geographical Information System) for the determination of the wind potential is proposed. As a first step, the available land for wind exploitation per island is determined. For this purpose several territorial constrains are taken into account (natural reserves, inhabited areas, roads, etc.). Another type of constrain is the wind velocity (minimum wind speed for wind exploitation purposes). Once all these constraints have been applied, each island’s map shows the available land for wind production. At this stage wind farms are located in these areas. Finally the wind energy production per wind farm is calculated. For this, the annual energy yield is calculated as a function of the Weibull distribution.

Author Biographies

  • Julieta Schallenberg-Rodríguez

    Department of Process Engineering University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Campus de Tafira, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) Phone number: +34 928 451936, e-mail: jschallenberg@dip.ulpgc.es

  • Jesús Notario del Pino

    Department of Soil Science and Geology

    University of La Laguna

    Astrofisico Francisco Sanchez Av., 38204 La Laguna (Spain)

    Phone number: +34 922 318426, e-mail: jnotario@ull.es

Published

2024-01-17

Issue

Section

Articles