Wind data analysis and wind energy potential in Italy

This paper presents an accurate method for predicting the energy that a wind turbine can produce in a given location based on the Weibull distribution of the wind data. Furthermore, wind data collected in 97 Italian sites, quite homogenously placed throughout the country, are presented and elaborated from an energy viewpoint. The experimental data have been obtained from wind measurements during 30 years, which can be considered a significant period of time to characterize the climate in a site. At each station, wind data are processed in order to calculate the available wind power density and some other parameters describing the temporal distribution of the wind energy, so as to quantify the energy fluctuations and the inactivity periods of the wind plant. Furthermore, in each site, the parameters of the Weibull distribution, giving the best fit to the measured wind speed values, are determined so as to allow the calculation of the annual energy which can be actually provided by a wind turbine, once its Power coefficient is known as a function of the wind speed. Finally, the most interesting sites for intensity and regularity of the wind are identified and the one characterized by the greatest value of the available power density is analysed in detail by describing the temporal distribution of the monthly and hourly available energy.