Location of wind masts and wind measurements
In this research work, a wind map of Thailand is initially investigated
for finding accessible areas with high potential of wind
energy. Field surveys in those areas are done by observing wind
speed at ground level and personally questioning local people
about wind potential during a whole year. There are many feasible
locations, where it is possible to install wind masts of 120 m height
as illustrated in Fig. 2. They are selected by high wind blow,
wind-mast protection, and easy accessibility to existing power
lines. In addition, all locations are in high demand areas of electricity.
Fig. 1 provides statistical information about the yearly mean
wind speed at a height of 90 m within the central region of
Thailand, which is approximately bounded by the solid line. As a
result of that, three suitable sites are chosen to cover the central
region of Thailand; those are Ratchaburi (S1), Pathum Thani (S2),
and Saraburi (S3), as shown in Fig. 1. The detailed locations of wind
masts for wind measurement are listed in Table 1.
Measurement devices are mounted on wind masts for detecting
wind speeds and wind directions at heights of 65 m, 90 m, and
120 m. A three-cup anemometer of NRG#40C and a wind vane of
NRG#200P are used to measure wind speed and wind direction,
respectively. The wind speed and wind direction are recorded by
Nomad 2™ wind data loggers during the whole of 2012 at a sampling
rate of 1 min with averaging of values every ten minutes. The
percentages of the measurement data, which are recorded for the
wind analysis, are 99.99%, 95.86% and 91.88% for the whole year
at sites S1, S2 and S3, respectively.