Estimation of the Potential Wind Power Capacity in the Urban Environment

The urban environment considerably influences aeration conditions, specifically, the formation of local high wind velocity areas, which may be used for wind power generation. Aeration conditions depend not only on the geometrical parameters of the urban environment but also on thermal processes due to solar and thermal radiations. Therefore, high wind velocity areas may be unstable. In this article, numerical simulation data for urban area zoning to estimate the wind power potential are presented. The incipience features of high wind velocity areas are considered using a particular housing estate as an example, and their variation with time of day is shown. The most favorable places for wind power plant (wind turbine) installation in the urban environment are indicated.