Evaluation of annual radiation and windiness over a playa: possibility of harvesting the solar and wind energies

We set up an automatic weather station over a playa (the flat floor of an undrained desert basin that becomes at times a shallow lake), approximately 65 km east–west by 130 km north–south, located at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground (40°08′N, 113°27′W, 1124 m above mean sea level) in north-western Utah, U.S.A., in 1999. This station measured the incoming (Rsi) and outgoing (Rso) solar or shortwave radiation using two CM21 Kipp & Zonen pyranometers (one inverted), the incoming (Rli or atmospheric) and outgoing (Rlo or terrestrial) longwave radiation, using two CG1 KippZonen pyrgeometers (one inverted), and the net (Rn) radiation using a Q*7 net radiometer (Radiation Energy Balance System, REBS). We also measured the 10-m wind speed (U10) and direction (R.M. Young wind monitor) and precipitation (Campbell Sci., Inc.). The measurements were taken every 2 s, averaged into 20-min, continuously, throughout the year. The annual (August 1999 – August 2000) comparisons of global or solar radiation and windiness with two other stations in central (Hunter) and northern (Logan) Utah, indicate higher solar radiation (Rsi,Dugway=7797 MJ m−2 period−1vs. Rsi, Hunter=7021 MJ m−2 period−1 and Rsi, Logan=6865 MJ m−2 period−1) and much higher annual mean windiness (UDugway=387 km day−1vs. UHunter=275 km day−1 and ULogan=174 km day−1) throughout the period over the playa. These data reveal the possibility of simultaneously harvesting these two sources of clean energies at this vast and uniform playa