Techno-Economic Analysis of Wind Energy Potential in North-Eastern of Thailand

Thailand's alternative power development plan attempts to reduce the dependence of electrical power generation on fossil fuels by setting a goal of generating electricity from wind energy resources of 3,002MW within year 2,036. Moreover, the shortage of electricity in the North-eastern region of Thailand needs to be cared for to create stability of energy in Thailand. Therefore, the assessment of wind power resource potential in the north-eastern part of Thailand needs to be studied. This paper presents a technical and economic analysis of the wind power potential for five stations in the north-eastern part of Thailand: Buriram, Roi Et, Sri Sa Ket, Surin, and Ubon Ratchathani within 4 years (2017-2020) at a 10-minute interval. The data was collected from Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) at a 10m height above ground level. This paper focuses on the wind climate at 60m and 80m above ground level by using WAsP to simulate the mean wind speed and power density of each station. Moreover, this study uses Vestas V52-850kW and Vestas V90-2,000kW wind turbine generators to calculate the net annual energy production of each station. In addition to evaluating the economic analysis of investment, this study uses economic tools to evaluate the feasibility of investment. The result showed that Roi Et is the most suitable location for a wind farm. The mean wind speeds and power densities are 5.95 m/s and 265 W/m2 at 60m and 6.15 m/s and 311 W/m2 at 80m. The AEP can be generated at 18.932 GWh and 56.322 GWh at 60m and 80m heights respectively for Roi Et with a cost per unit of 0.09 $/kWh and 0.07 $/kWh. The other provinces have an AEP of 10.674 GWh for Buriram, 12.152 GWh for Sri Sa Ket, 12.969 GWh for Surin, and 8.508 GWh for Ubon Ratchathani at 60m height level, with a cost per unit of 0.15 $/kWh, 0.14 $/kWh, 0.13 $/kWh, and 0.2 $/kWh respectively. At 80m height, the AEP is 33.437 GWh with 0.11 $/kWh for Buriram, 45.737 GWh with 0.09 $/kWh for Sri Sa Kat, 41.189 GWh with 0.09 $/kWh for Surin, and 27.524 GWh with 0.14 $/kWh for Ubon Ratchathani.