United States areal wind resource assessment
Estimates of the electricity that could potentially be generated by wind power and of the land area available for wind energy development have been calculated for the contiguous United States, in support of the US Department of Energy's National Energy Strategy. These estimates were based on the wind resource data published in a national resource atlas. Estimates of the wind resource in this atlas are expressed in wind power classes ranging from class 1 to class 7, with each class representing a range of mean wind power density or equivalent mean speed at specified heights above the ground (Table 1) . Areas designatedclass 4 or greater are suitable for most wind turbine applications. Power class 3 areas are suitable for wind energy development using tall (50-m hub height) turbines. Class 2 areas are marginal and class 1 areas unsuitable for wind energy development. A map of the areal (percentage of land area) distribution of the wind resource digitized in grid cells (1/4[degrees] latitude by 1/3[degrees] longitude) shows that exposed areas with moderate to high wind resource (class 3 and greater) are dispersed throughout much of the contiguous United States.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6594261
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA-21606; CONF-9303133--1; ON: DE93011905
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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US areal wind resource estimates considering environmental and land-use exclusions
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