A GIS methodology for planning sustainable renewable energy deployment in Portugal

ABSTRACT: A Geographical Information System (GIS) methodology was developed to identify and characterize suitable areas for deploying renewable energy projects. The methodology enables to compute the sustainable renewable energy potential in an area under study and can be implemented for different spatial scales, ranging from local to national levels, while operating with different restriction layers. This GIS-based method has been successfully applied to wind energy deployment studies in Continental Portugal and other foreign countries (e.g. Venezuela, Mozambique among others). Results from several development plans using this methodology enable to conclude it is an adequate tool for planning sustainable renewable energy deployment both for onshore and offshore regions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainable Offshore Wind Potential in Continental Portugal

This study intends to depict the availability of the sustainable offshore wind energy for Continental Portugal and identify the preliminary areas for developing offshore wind parks. Two scenarios were performed to distinct the different offshore wind turbine prototypes assembled by the manufactory energy sector – bottom fixed and floating models. The results achieved until now indicate that Portugal has a very large potential for offshore wind deployments ready to be exploited, especially for deep offshore solutions

A first methodology for wind energy resource assessment in urbanised areas in Portugal

The onshore wind power capacity in Portugal has increased very rapidly in the last five years and this high rate of development is expected to continue up to 2013 although at a slower rate. By then almost all sustainable onshore resource assessment will be deployed. Nevertheless, the full exploitation of the wind resource in Portugal offers other possibilities, among them the installation of small wind turbines (SWT), namely micro-turbines for domestic use in urban and constructed environments. To contribute to the needs of developers, investors and the overall population’s expectations and needs into this newer type of renewable market, a new a new line of research related to the wind resource assessment in urban and constructed areas was initiated. The present work presents a first user-friendly method to assess the urban wind potential at low experimental and computational costs, compatible with the scale of investment of micro-generation. A case study, where an urban area is identified and treated as very complex topography, was characterized in terms of wind resource, being the preliminary results presented here

Improving offshore wind resource assessments using a data assimilation technique

Wind research and industry partners in collaboration with the EU have created the FP7 NORSEWInD project with the main objective of delivering to the North, Baltic and Irish Sea areas high quality wind atlases for offshore wind resource assessment. The state-of-the-art atmospheric mesoscale model WRF is used to map the wind resource at 90m a.g.l. for the North Sea area. A model domain with a spatial resolution of 20x20 km is used to simulate a winter and a summer month (November 2008 and July 2009). It is coupled with a Newtonian relaxation assimilation technique to ingest surface wind data provided from QuikSCAT (QS) satellite and sea surface temperature (SST) data from GHRSST Level 4 analysis. Wind results from the model are validated against observational data from the anemometric mast FINO1 and the spatial improvement of the average wind field at 90 m a.g.l is calculated. Improvements of more than 5% were obtained from using data assimilation on the overall domain. Each source has shown a distinct impact on the analyzed periods. The QS assimilation had higher impact during the summer period whereas SST assimilation was significant during the winter period. At FINO 1 location, improvements on the vertical wind profile were obtained from the SST assimilation. The MAE and RMSE statistical parameters were slightly improved

Impacte da assimilação de dados de vento provenientes de satélite em ambiente offshore: caso de estudo da Berlenga

Com o acentuado desenvolvimento da capacidade de produção de energia eólica onshore, onde Portugal já excede,actualmente, 3500 MW de capacidade instalada, é de esperar que este número ascenda a patamares muito elevados, tendo em conta os objectivos ambiciosos que a União Europeia planeia para o sector até 2020, prevendo-se que, em 2013, Portugal atinja a meta dos 5100M de capacidade instalada. No entanto, o recurso eólico onshore nacional não é infinito, tendo o LNEG já estimado uma meta nacional para a capacidade eólica sustentável onshore para Portugal Continental de, aproximadamente, 6000MW [1], capacidade só ultrapassável com a libertação de região actualmente protegidas ambientalmente de forma severa, bem como com a introdução de impactos naõ desprezáveis sobre as populações, que seria desejável evitar. Desta forma, e para um horizonte temporal além de 2013, há que fomentar e redireccionar as oportunidades de investimento do sector para outro nicho de mercado que se espera emergente, e que é o aproveitamento da energia eólica offshore que o País dispõe [2]

An evaluation study for improving gap flow simulations in coastal areas on Portugal

Winds inferred by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites are a very important source of spatial wind field behavior along coastal areas particularly on small coastal areas that are temporary affected by strong flow disturbances mainly driven from land to the ocean. Gap flow circulations, among others, are an example of such wind phenomena disturbances which are not yet described by regional atmospheric models nor by CFD modeling. Such situations could compromise both offshore wind resource and park deployment studies on places affected by the presence of these phenomena types. A possible way to overcome this situation is the usage of SAR images assimilated into regional atmospheric models using certain type of assimilation techniques. In this work, a real case occurred in a coastal area in Portugal will be taken into account. A strong gap flow occurred during the beginning of the night 9 December 2010 was captured by a SAR image which was assimilated into the model. Some validation meteorological stations were used for validation purposes taken into account scenarios performed with and without wind SAR assimilation. Spatial results lead to the conclusion that the assimilation of SAR images improves the wind pattern results which reflects how SAR assimilation into the mesoscale models are important for simulating the coastal wind flow patterns

Köhler disease: an infrequent or underdiagnosed cause of child's limping?

Köhler disease (KD) is the osteochondrosis of the tarsal navicular bone of the young children, which is a self-limited condition. Typically the child reports pain with mechanical characteristics in the medial region of the foot, however, intermittent or continuous limping may be the only clinical manifestation, which delays the diagnosis and consequently exposes to unnecessary tests and treatments. We describe a bilateral KD whose clinical manifestation was unilateral limping with 4 months evolution. The radiologic evaluation showed flattening, sclerosis and irregular rarefaction of both navicular bones. Claudication persisted for four weeks, after which, the child remains asymptomatic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using data assimilation in mesoscale numerical modeling to map offshore wind resource

data from GHRSST Level 4 analysis have been ingested to an atmospheric mesoscale numerical model using a Newtonian relaxation assimilation technique. The mesoscale model WRF was used to map the wind resource at 90 m a.g.l. for the North Sea area. A model domain with a spatial resolution of 20x20 km was used to simulate a winter and a summer month, November 2008 and July 2009. The modeled wind results have been validated against observational data from the anemometric mast FINO1. A spatial improvement of the average wind field at 90 m a.g.l. from the observational data has been assessed. Each assimilated data source has shown a distinct impact. The QS assimilation had higher impact during the summer period while the SST assimilation during the winter period. Improvements of 5% and more were obtained from using data assimilation on the overall domain. Validation with the FINO1 anemometric mast shows improvements on the average vertical wind profile while error statistical parameters were only slightly improved

Methodology to design an economic and strategic offshore wind energy Roadmap in Portugal

The main objective of this paper is to establish a roadmap for offshore wind energy in Portugal. It will determine the best sea areas to install fixed and floating offshore wind farms in this region, using spatial analysis of four economic indexes: Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Net Present Value (NPV), Discounted Pay-Back Period (DPBP) and Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE). Several economic parameters will be considered (Portuguese offshore tariff, investment and O&M costs, credit values, etc.).Three different discount rates were used into the sensitivity analysis. Several types of physical restrictions will be taking into account: submarine electrical cables, bathymetry, seabed geology, environmental conditions, protected areas in terms of heritage, navigation areas, seismic fault lines, etc. Moreover, location settings as proximity to shipyards or ports will be considered to complement the strategy. All of them will define the resulting area to install offshore wind farms along Portuguese coast. Spatial operations, considering economic, physical and strategic issues, have been carried out using Model Builder of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. Results indicate the Portuguese areas economically suitable for installing offshore wind farms