Possibilities and Restrictions of Wind Energy Use in One Federal State in Germany
Title:
Possibilities and Restrictions of Wind Energy Use in One Federal State in Germany
Author:
Kaltschmitt, Martin
Appeared in:
Energy sources. Part A, Recovery utilization and environmental effects
Paging:
Volume 14 (1992) nr. 4 pages 411-422
Year:
1992-10-01
Contents:
A current political topic is the request for increasing use of wind energy. The objectives of this paper are to evaluate this call in more detail in some parts of the Federal Republic of Germany by analyzing possibilities, restrictions, and production costs of electricity generation from wind energy in Baden-Wurttemberg, an inland state in the southwest of Germany. Based on zones with similar average wind velocities, the theoretical potential to install converters is assessed for each municipality, considering among other things residential areas, highways, roads, rivers, and nature conservation areas as not usable territories. The result is a technical area potential suitable for the installation of wind energy converters. Based on this area potential, a methodological approach is presented that allows the definition and the analysis of strategies of a wind energy use on a high spatial and timely resolution. On the basis of measured hourly mean wind velocities at different locations, a method is shown that allows the calculation of representative wind speed time series for any possible site correlated with the general weather situation. Then the most cost-efficient spatial distribution of the wind turbines is calculated. After the simulation of the electricity generation corresponding to the wind energy supply and the calculation of the annual investment costs, the energy generation costs for one unit electricity can be determined. Using this model two strategies of an wind electricity generation in Baden-Wurttemberg are analyzed. They are evaluated on the amount of electricity generation, the regional supply distribution, and the resulting energy production costs.
Journal description