An Analysis of Wind Resources and the Feasibility of Wind-Energy Generation on the Connecticut College Campus
By: Michael Marshall '11
Advising Faculty: Douglas Thompson
A wind-resource analysis was undertaken on the Connecticut College campus to augment the preliminary wind-power feasibility study conducted by Global Energy Concepts (GEC) in 2006. Based largely on modeled wind speeds, this earlier study concluded that wind resources at the college were insufficient to generate large amounts of electrical energy given the small-scale turbine believed to be suited to the campus's available land. In the current wind-resource analysis, rather than using modeled values, on-site wind measurements were made over the course of a year and extrapolated to the hub heights of various turbines. These extrapolations suggest that the mean anual wind speed on campus, due partly to a favorable hill-acceleration effect, may be at least 5.2 ms at a height of 35 m above ground level, which is 6% greater than the mean wind speed that GEC estimated. Moreover, when a wind turbine sited in the college's extensive arboretum is considered, much larger-scale projects become possible.
This honors thesis may be read in its entirety at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College, http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/physicshp/2/
Related Fields: Environment, Physics, Sciences