Potential zones for offshore wind power development in the Gulf of Mexico using reanalyses data and capacity factor seasonal analysis

Potential zones for offshore wind power development in the Gulf of Mexico using reanalyses data and capacity factor seasonal analysis

Canul-Reyes, D. A. (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Rodríguez-Hernández, O. (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Jarquin Laguna, A. (TU Delft Offshore and Dredging Engineering)

2022

Mexico is an attractive candidate for offshore wind energy development due to its geographical location with extensive coasts in the Pacific Ocean and Mexico's Gulf. Although potential offshore wind areas have been geographically assessed, an evaluation of the seasonal variations of the capacity factors has not been considered for the feasibility of the locations. This research identifies potential zones for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico, implementing geographical restrictions such as the Economic Exclusive Zone, distance from the coast, protected areas, bathymetry, and capacity factor seasonality. Wind speeds were obtained from 39 years of reanalyses historical data and two reference wind turbines of 5 and 10 MW were included in the analysis. Three potential areas were identified from the results: the northeast Tamaulipas, the western Campeche, and the northern Yucatan. Monthly mean capacity factors above 45% were estimated from October to June, with the maximum values near 60% between March and April. Conversely, minimum values were observed from July to September but consistently higher than 30%. The analyzed zones show suitable technical conditions for offshore wind development. Further analysis is needed to validate the wind speed conditions, in addition to the evaluation of economic factors, the study of extreme weather conditions like tropical cyclones as well as characteristics in the intertropical region.

Capacity factor analysis
ERA5
Inter annual variability
MERRA2
Offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico
Wind resource assessment

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f13cee50-1664-499e-8b29-ff89cb900fa5

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2022.03.008

2023-07-01

0973-0826

Energy for Sustainable Development, 68, 211-219

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 D. A. Canul-Reyes, O. Rodríguez-Hernández, A. Jarquin Laguna