“Characterization of Wind

Profile – Comparison of Wind

Profile for Onshore and
Offshore points on the South
of Portugal”
Presented by: Francisco Barros

1st of February 2019,

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Introduction:
(Data Used)
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• ECWMF ERA 5 reanalyse;

• From year 2000 to within 3 months of real time;

• Provides hourly estimates of a large number of atmospheric, land and

oceanic climate variables;

• The data cover the Earth on a 30km grid and resolve the atmosphere using
137 levels from the surface up to a height of 80km;

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 Introduction:
(Wind Profile SL)
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• The wind speed usually varies following a logarithmic law with height in the
surface layer;

• Frictional drag causes the wind • Pressure gradient causes the

speed to become zero close to wind to increase with height;
the ground;

Laminar Regime

Turbulent Regime

Fig. 1: Wind Profile as a function of

height, DR. Hasson notes.
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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• Deducted doing some assumptions:

1. Vertical flux of horizontal momentum due to turbulence must be
uniform in the lowest part of the atmosphere;

2. Prandtl hypothesis: random part of horizontal velocity u' is

proportional to vertical wind shear;

3. Vertical length scale of turbulent eddies is comparable to their

horizontal length scale;

4. At the bottom part of the atmosphere the absolute value of mixing

length l' is proportional to height, z;

ഥ 𝑢∗
𝜕𝑀 𝑢∗ 𝑧
= (1) ഥ=
𝑀 ∗ log (2)
𝜕𝑧 𝑘𝑧 𝑘 𝑧0
Where:
ഥ is the mean wind speed; 𝑢∗ is the friction velocity; 𝑘 is the von
• 𝑀
Karman constant; 𝑧 is the geometric height and 𝑧0 is the initial
geometric height.
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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 2: Wind Profile as a function of height, for a logarithimic Fig. 3: Weibull distribuiton for onshore and
height scale and diferente atmospheric adiabatic lapse rates, offshore wind speeds, Wim Bierbooms Course
Stull (1988). OE5662 Notes.

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 Introduction:
(Climatological Wind in
Algarve)
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 5: Domain of the climatic study, Francisco

Miguel Gaspar Chaves dissertation.

Fig. 4: Mean climatologic wind velocity at 10 m

height for the 1989-2007 period, Francisco
Miguel Gaspar Chaves dissertation. Fig. 6: Anual wind direction histograma for the period
1986-2018, Paulo Oliveira
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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 7: Trimestral climatologic wind velocity at 10 m height for the 1989-2007 period at the A2 domain, Francisco
Miguel Gaspar Chaves dissertation.

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 Introduction:
(Motivation: Renewable
Energies)
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 8: Wind farms distribuiton in Portugal, Wind Fig. 9: Wind farms distribuiton in Portugal,
farms in Portugal, INEGI and APREN. S.Rodrigues et al.

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 Introduction:
(Onshore Wind vs Offshore
Wind.)
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 10: Onshore and Offshore wind profiles, Wim

Bierbooms Course OE5662 Notes.

Table 1: Onshore vs Offshore wind

characteristics, Wim Bierbooms Course OE5662
Notes.

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Method:
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• Trimestral vertical profile of U, V, M and Theta;

• Study of the Trimestral fricitonal drag profile;

• Hovmoller plots of U, V M and Theta;

• Windrose at 106 meters height for the year of 2017;

• Histogram of M and Theta at 106 m;

• Parameterization of a Weibull distribution to M data at 106 m.

• Vectorial plot of mean wind speed at 106 m fo the year 2017in order to
compare with climatological data;

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Results:
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 10: Trimestral wind speed profile as a function of height (Jan-Mar; Apr-Jun), onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 11: Trimestral wind speed profile as a function of height (Jul-Sep; Oct-Dec), onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 12: Trimestral direciton profile as a function of height (Jan-Mar; Apr-Jun), onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 13: Trimestral wind speed profile as a function of height (Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec), onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
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Fig. 14: Frictional drag profile as a function of height , onshore (left) and offshore (right) obtained using equation 1.

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
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Fig. 15:Anual evolution of zonal and meridional componentes of wind, onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
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Fig. 16:Anual evolution of wind direction and mean wind speed, onshore (left) and offshore (right).

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
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a)

c)

b)

Fig. 17: a) Histogram and distribuiton fitting to mean wind

speed at 106 m for the year of 2017, b) Histogram of the
wind direction at 106 m for the year of 2017, c) Wind rose
plot at 106 m for the year of 2017, onshore point.

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 18: a) Histogram and distribuiton fitting to mean wind

speed at 106 m for the year of 2017, b) Histogram of the
wind direction at 106 m for the year of 2017, c) Wind rose
plot at 106 m for the year of 2017, offshore point.

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Fig. 19: Anual evolution and comparison of mean and direction componentes of the wind between onshore and offshore
poins at 106 m.

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 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

Goodness of fit M at 106 m (m/s) M at 106 m (m/s)

(Ocean) (Land)
P-Value >0,1 0,01365
Statistics 0,02241 0,03041
Decision at level Can't reject Weibull Reject Weibull
(5%)
Table 2: Weibull fit parameters.

U(m/s) V(m/s) M(m/s) Theta (º)

(Ocean, (Ocean, (Ocean, (Ocean,
106 m) 106 m) 106 m) 106 m)
Mean -0.091 -2.850 6.946 -30.3842
STD 5.233 4.811 3.226 102.422
Table 3: Mean and standart desviation of zona, meridional,
mean and direction of wind components for 2017 at 106 m,
offshore point.

U(m/s) V(m/s) M(m/s) Theta (º)

(Land, 106 (Land, 106 (Land, 106 (Land, 106
m) m) m) m)
Mean 16.167 1.733 19.937 7.462
STD 4.285 4.495 4.011 17.224 Fig. 19: Anual Wind velocity plot at 106
Table 4: Mean and standart desviation of zona, meridional, meters for 2017.
mean and direction of wind components for 2017 at 106 m,
onshore point.

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Conclusions:
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• Wind speed profile has a mainly “unstable” profile for the onshore point;

• Wind speed profile has a mainly “stable” profile for the offshore point, (not the
expected for the BL?);

• Wind directions tend to remain constant from a given height;

• Frictional drag as a similar profile for the onshore point as for the offshore point
although this similarity might be affected by sazonality;

• Similar anual profile of zonal and meridional componentes of wind;

• The wind speed variable follows a Weibull distribuiton at 106 m height for the offshore
point;

• Although the mean values indicate that the wind speed has a bigger magnitude on
land, it might be due to the fact that the studied points were adjacent  na increase in
the wind speed magnitude is expected for more distant offshore points (same applies
for wind direction, where mean wind direction and wind direction std are expected to
increase for more distant offshore point);

• Results are in agreement with the climatological results.

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References:
 Characterization of wind profile | Onshore point vs Offshore Point
1 - Feb - 2019

• Chaves, Francisco; (2015) “Estudo Climatologico da Nortada na Costa Oeste da

Penínsul Ibérica”; Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Militares
Navais, na especialidade de Marinha.

• Deaves D.M. And Lines, I.G.; (1997) “On the fitting of low mean windspeed data to the
Weibull distribution”; Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics; pages
169-178;

• Goh, S.L.; Chen, M.; Popovic, D.H.; Aihara, K.; Obradovic, D. And Mandic, D.P., (2006)
“Complex-Valued forecasting of wind profile”; Elsevier Reneable Energy 31 pages 1733-
1750;

• Hatteberg, Rachel, (2014) "Analysis of surface wind speed distributions: A look into
NARCCAP models and ASOS data throughout the Contiguous United States" .Graduate
Theses and Dissertations. 13882;

• Hsu S. A; Meindl, Eric A. And Gilhousen David B., (June 1994) “Determining the Power-
Law Wind-Profile Exponent Under Near-Neutral Stability Conditions at Sea”; Journal of
Applied Meteorology and Climatology pages 757-765;

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1 - Feb - 2019

• Justus, C. G.; Hargraves W.R.; Mikhail, Amir And Graber, Denise (March 1978) “Methods
for Estimating Wind Speed Frequency Distribuitons”; Journal of Applied Meteorology
and Climatology pages 350-353;

• Monahan, Adam H; August 2013 “The Gaussian Statistical Predictability of Wind

Speeds”; Journal of Climate; pages 5563-5577;

• Oliveira, Paulo “Considerações sobre o clima do Algarve”; Direção Regional de

Agriculturas e Pescas do Algarve; 2018;

• Rodrigues, S.; Restrepo C.; Kontos, E., Teixeira Pinto, R.; Bauer, P.; (May 2015) “Trends
of offshore wind projects” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review, pages 1115-
1121.

• Stull, Roland B. (1988). ”Boundary layer meteorology”. KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHER;

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