Natural Power Technical Team Enter Emerging Asian Renewables Market

Leading renewable energy consultancy Natural Power has delivered comprehensive energy yield, site assessment and wind turbine comparison studies on two proposed wind farms in Thailand for the purposes of future project financing.

Natural Power worked collaboratively with OWL Energy (OWL), the Association of South East Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) leading power engineering consultant, to assess the technical and financial viability of the 60 MW Huai Bong and Greenovation projects, and to confirm the suitability of the projects with respect to the proposed turbines.

The projects brought new challenges for the Scottish-based consultancy, given the low wind velocities typical in Thailand. Natural Power’s extensive wind technical expertise, supported by their ground-breaking research in advanced flow modelling, brought extra credibility and depth to the analysis. vuWind™, Natural Power’s in-house wind data software, allowed a wide range of tests to be carried out with respect to long-term correction and time-series based shear and turbulence extrapolation: particularly relevant to the regional winds that have strong diurnal and seasonal variations.

A sound flow model formed the basis for a layout optimisation that utilises the advantages of the local topography, turbine characteristics and the prevailing wind regime to maximise the wind farm’s output. The ground-based reference data was enhanced by the use of validated meso-scale models, the use of which Natural Power has pioneered as a valid, stable reference source for long-term corrections. Site classification studies were also carried out to predict extremes of resource and flow characteristics for design decisions and turbine and device warranty considerations.

Tony Segadelli, Managing Director of OWL, said of Natural Power’s contribution: “Natural Power has a substantial track record in providing finance-grade wind resource assessments to the renewable energy market. Their world-leading technical expertise has been invaluable in the progression of both of these projects. The expertise brought to the projects by Natural Power are the basis for a long term partnership throughout ASEAN that will extend from the low wind velocity countries such as Thailand to typhoon-affected areas such as the Philippines.”

The projects were led by Natural Power wind analyst Edmund Andrew, based in Stirling, who commented: “The Huai Bong and Greenovation projects have been challenging and interesting to be involved in, as they were our first in Thailand. It is exciting to be involved in an emerging market and to be at the forefront of bringing the benefits of renewable energy to a new region.”

Press release, December 12, 2013