TY - JOUR AU - Pullinger, D. AU - Ali, A. AU - Zhang, M. AU - Hill, N. AU - Crutchley, T. PY - 2019/09/18 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Improving accuracy of wind resource assessment through feedback loops of operational performance data: A South African case study JF - Journal of Energy in Southern Africa JA - J. energy South. Afr. VL - 30 IS - 3 SE - Articles DO - 10.17159/2413-3051/2019/v30i3a5669 UR - https://energyjournal.africa/article/view/5669 SP - 1-10 AB - <p>This study addresses two key objectives using operational performance data from most of the Round 1 wind farms connected to the grid in South Africa: benchmarking of wind farm performance and validation of the pre-construction energy yield assessments. These wind farms were found to perform in line with internationally reported levels of wind farm availability, with a mean energy-based availability of 97.8% during the first two years of operation. The pre-construction yield assessments used for financing in 2012 were found to over-predict project yield (P50) by 4.9%. This was consistent with other validation studies for Europe and North America. It was also noted that all projects exceed the pre-construction P90 estimate. The reasons for this discrepancy were identified, with the largest cause of error being wind flow and wake-modelling errors. Following a reassessment using up to date methodologies from 2018, the mean bias in pre-construction predictions was 1.4%.</p> ER -