As part of the U.S. Department of Energy/Electric Power Research Institute (DOE-EPRI) Wind TurbineVerification Program (TVP), Global Energy Concepts (GEC) worked with participating utilities todevelop a set of performance projections for their projects based on historical site atmospheric conditions,turbine performance data, operation and maintenance (O&M) strategies, and assumptions about variousenergy losses. After a preliminary operation period at each project, GEC compared the actualperformance to projections and evaluated the accuracy of the data and assumptions that formed theperformance projections.This paper presents a comparison of 1999 power output, turbine availability, and other performancecharacteristics to the projections for TVP projects in Texas, Vermont, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, andAlaska. Factors that were overestimated or underestimated are quantified. Actual wind speeds arecompared to projections based on long-term historical measurements. Turbine power curvemeasurements are compared with data provided by the manufacturers, and loss assumptions are evaluatedfor accuracy. Overall, the projects performed well, particularly new commercial turbines in the first fewyears of operation. However, some sites experienced below average wind resources and greater thanexpected losses. The TVP project owners successfully developed and constructed wind power plants thatare now in full commercial operation, serving a total of approximately 12,000 households.
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