Development of a Methodology for Wind Resource Assessment

Since 1995, COPEL (the local utility of the State of Paraná, Brazil) has been developing, in partnership with LACTEC and CAMARGO SCHUBERT, research and development projects in the area of wind energy. In 1999, the project named ‘Projeto VENTAR’ introduced the ‘Wind energy resource map of the State of Paraná’. In line with the global growth of renewable energy utilisation, and the beginning of the Brazilian wind energy market, COPEL has developed a methodology to support feasibility analyses of wind farm projects in Brazil. The author gives a description of the methodology and results achieved.

By Luiz Procopiak, LACTEC, Brazil