Wind Resource Assessment in an Island Country

Escalating fossil fuel prices, growing energy demand and the increase in concerns for the environment have led mankind to look for alternate energy sources which are sustainable, benign and cost-effective. Wind energy is one of the solutions and for it to be marketable and technically feasible, proper wind resource assessment is to be done. This work analyzes wind data for Vadravadra village in Gau Island, Fiji, carries out financial analysis and uses HOMER to determine the optimum hybrid configuration for this site. It has been established for Vadravadra that (i) the annual average wind speed is 6.18 m/s, (ii) for 68 % of the time in a year the wind speed exceeds 5 m/s, (iii) highest wind speed is recorded in June and July, (iv) optimum wind turbine is Fuhrlaender 30 kW wind turbine (FL-30), and (v) estimated annual energy yield from FL-30 wind turbine is 60000 kWh. From HOMER simulations, it has been found for Vadravadra that when a wind turbine alone is installed at the site then the cost of energy (COE) is F$1.32/kWh and when a wind diesel hybrid system is considered the COE is F$1.44/kWh.