Wind power evaluation of the low-level wind over Wyoming using MM5

Lin Yanluan, MS candidate, University of Wyoming

Wind energy, a clean and renewable source of electric power, has received much attention during the past few decades. Wind resource maps provide a general guidance of wind power potential at specific sites and facilitate the wind power development. The Fifth-Generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model Version 3 (MM5) has been used to simulate the low-level winds in the complex terrain of Wyoming. Planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization scheme sensitivity tests were conducted to determine the suitable PBL scheme for the low-level wind simulations. MM5 was then run during two contrasting periods (the 2002 summer and 1996/97 winter). Objective model verification results show that MM5 has a prominent cold bias (~ 3 K) and a slight underestimation of wind speed by approximately 1 m s^-1. Wind resource atlases have been produced that are based on model simulations. A pronounced spatial distribution pattern is produced with highest wind potential strongly linked to the topography of Wyoming. Wind power is shown to be much higher in winter than summer. Highest wind power is simulated in the lee of the Laramie Range and the Medicine Bow Mountain instead of the narrowest section of the wind corridor near Medicine Bow. The study showed the potential of MM5 in producing realistic wind resource maps.