The study on prediction of power generation of offshore wind farm of western and southern coast utilizing offshore buoy meteorological observations data

Given the massive early investment needed for the construction of large offshore wind farms, the ROI (return of investment), which can guarantee sufficient profitability, should be secured in advance. The highest priority in terms of determining profitability is to estimate the power production volume of an offshore wind farm based on surveyed wind resources. The maritime measurement of wind resources in Korea has only been performed at one point in the water off the coast of Wido. And the measurements released by the Korea Meteorological Administration were used, as there are no available long-term measurements for other areas. This paper suggested some analysis results that have been collected using a 4[m] tall meteorological-purpose buoy facility installed at the West Coast. The measured wind speeds were corrected at a height of 80[m], which is the average hub height of wind power generators. In addition, an offshore wind farm consisting of 34 3[MW] wind power generators were designed using WindPRO in order to estimate annual power production capacity and utilization rates. The provided average wind speed was 4.92[m/s], and a wind speed of 6.66 [m/s] was obtained by correcting the average wind speed at a height of 80[m]. The power generation capacity and utilization rates of a 100[MW] offshore wind farm, designed using WindPRO based on the corrected data, were estimated to be 294,313.9[MWh] and 32.9[%], respectively. As power production using tidal currents was envisaged to be possible due to the average depth of the water at which an offshore wind farm is to be located was found to be 34[m], it was thought that the design of a hybrid wind farm combining wind power with tidal current power would prop up the economic feasibility of the farm.