Wind power performance assessment at high plateau region: A case study of the wind farm field test on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

The population of countries with high altitudes accounts for about 20.4% of the world’s population, but the annual electricity consumption is still at a low level, which significantly slows down the development of these regions. Wind energy is suggested as the solution, but the progress is very slow due to challenges in operations from the relatively harsh environment. To overcome this challenge while considering Qinghai-Tibet plateau is one of most representative high altitude regions in the world, we recently developed a 22 MW wind farm at an altitude of over 5000 m in Tibet, China, and conducted a one-year field-test campaign using direct-drive permanent-magnet generators (DDPMGs) and doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) as a case study. In this paper, we report some main results. During resource assessment, it is found that the wind speeds is between 11 m/s and 22 m/s for most winter time with abundant energy production but relatively significant daily fluctuation due to temperature change. From a technology perspective, we found that both DDPMGs and DFIGs can adapt to the ultra-high-altitude environment. Wind turbines with DDPMGs are reliable because of their gearless design, and turbines with DFIGs have a lower cut-in wind speed, which enables them to generate power in regions with low wind speeds. This wind farm generates nearly 60 million kWh of electricity to support 8410 local households per year. It can also eliminate the need to burn 50.24 million kg of cow dung, thereby effectively reducing the local residents’ dependence on burning organic matter for energy. This study is expected to provide guidance to technology developers and governmental policymakers to plan future wind farms in the high altitude area.