| Abstract: | This article presents analyses of the potential power production from turbines located in the near‐shore and offshore environment relative to an onshore location, using half‐hourly average wind speed data from four sites in the Danish wind monitoring network. These measurement sites are located in a relatively high wind speed environment, and data from these sites indicate a high degree of spatial coherence. For these sites and representative turbine specifications (rated power 1·3–2 W) the fraction of time with power output in excess of 500 kW is twice as high for the offshore location as for the land site. Also, the fraction of time with negligible power production (defined as <100 kW output from the turbines described herein) is less than 20% for the offshore site and twice as high at the land‐based location. Capacity factors are higher for coastal sites than for the land site, and the annual capacity factor for the offshore location is twice that of the land site. Potential power output at the offshore site exhibits approximately the same seasonal variation as at the land site but little diurnal variation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
