Wind
Resource Assessment
Wind
Assessment
Unity
College Community Wind Data
I.
Disclaimer:
1.
This page
contains links to Maine community wind assessment data sets collected by Unity
College as part of its Community Wind Assessment Program. Click
on the link to go to the main page.
Our regularly updated blog with journalistic opinion pieces and articles
about our work and other renewable energy and sustainability projects at Unity
College can be found here.
2.
The data sets are
the intellectual property of Unity College, but are posted here for public use
in the furtherance of wind power education and community wind assessment, particularly
in the state of Maine.
3.
Anyone wishing to
use these data for these purposes is free to do so.
4.
Anyone using the
data accepts complete responsibility for their own actions, and may not hold
Unity College liable for the performance of any products installed or other
decisions made based on these data.
II.
Formats:
1.
Wind data comes
in various formats, but one popular format is the NRG Systems Inc. Symphonie
Logger and Symphonie Data Retriever application (SDR) used in concert with NRG
Systems anemometry equipment. The software to read .rwd format files is built
in to the SDR program and can be obtained freely from NRG at http://www.nrgsystems.com/TechSupport/Documentation.aspx
2.
Other data sets
in .txt (text), .pdf, .xls and .doc documents, as well as specialized .rwd (raw
wind file) and .wmf (Windows media file) format are included. Check the suffix
to determine if you have appropriate software.
3.
The primary
format for final feasibility calculations is Microsoft Excel.
III.
Support and technical assistance for this work:
Unity
College is pleased to partner with NRG Systems Inc.
on community wind assessment programs in Maine. NRG Systems provided the
equipment and initial training, and we are grateful for their support and happy
to be associated with an important leader in the wind assessment and wind power
industry.
Efficiency
Maine, an arm of the Public Utilities
Commission of Maine, has also provided generous encouragement and support, and
is acting as a clearing-house for community wind assessment support in Maine.
Please contact them at efficiencymaine@maine.gov if you have questions about their work.
For
help with Excel spreadsheet calculators and validation of the systems used, as
well as some helpful corrections, we are grateful to Tony Jimenez of the
Technology
Acceptance & Distributed Wind Section, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL).
The
NREL provides important support, data, and other services for community wind.
You can find their wind power web page here.
IV.
Data sets:
1) Mt View High
School, Thorndike, Maine, 44 degrees, 33 minutes, 16 seconds north latitude, 69
degrees, 16 minutes, 24 seconds west longitude, 155 meters ASL
a)
Total .rwd files for this site, folder, (not
recommended for non-professional users, need Symphonie Data Retriever to use): email
mwomersley@unity.edu for this file
b)
Channel 1 (60 meter) metric 60 minute average wind
speed frequency distribution, 2007: freqch1metric.txt
c) Channel 3
(50 meter) metric 60 minute average wind speed frequency distribution, 2007: freqch3metric.txt
d) Channel 5
(40 meter) metric 60 minute average wind speed frequency distribution, 2007: freqch5metric.txt
e) Channels 2,
4, 6 available on request. These are back-up anemometers at 60, 50, and 40
meters respectively
f) Wind turbine
production estimates, Excel Spreadsheets, includes 40 and 60 meter frequency
distribution: MTviewassessmentFINAL2.xls
g) Mt View site
hourly averages and monthly and annual summaries: mtview
hourly averages.xls
2) Peak’s
Island Preliminary Report: http://www.unity.edu/facultypages/womersley/peaksislandpreliminaryreport.pdf