Investigation of Wind Energy in Southern Thailand

Abstract

Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy technologies worldwide; however, assessing potential sites for wind energy exploitation is a challenging task. This study presents a site suitability analysis to develop a small–scale wind farm in south–eastern Thailand and the technical evaluation of wind energy potential using three available wind turbine models for prospective onshore wind farm at Krabi and Songkhla sites. To this aim, the most recent available data over a period of 3 to 4 years, recorded near the surface, at ten weather stations of the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) were acquired. The analysis was conducted using standard wind–industry software WAsP. It was found that the mountain peaks and ridges are highly suitable for small–scale wind farm development. The selected sites in south–eastern Thailand have mean wind speeds ranging from 5.1 m/s to 9.4 m/s. Moreover, annual energy production (AEP) of 102 MWh to 311 MWh could be generated using an Enercon E–18 wind turbine with a rated power of 80-kW at the hub height of 28.5 m. The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) reveals that the development cost of a small–scale wind farm is lowest in the Songkhla and Yala provinces of Thailand, therefore these two locations from the investigated study region are financially most suitable. Moreover, WAsP analyses after technical evaluation indicates that Enercon E-40/5.40 500 kW wind turbine model produces the highest total gross AEP and total net AEP for Krabi and Songkhla sites. Besides, the Vergnet GEV MP-C 275 kW turbine model shows slightly higher capacity factor in case of both sites. The findings could encourage researchers to further investigate low–speed wind energy mechanisms in tropical regions, and the demonstrated approach could be reused for other regions.