Quantifying the Available Offshore Wind Resource in North Carolina

We present a study of wind profile measurements for improvement upon the wind resource estimation of coastal North Carolina. The site of measurement, near Cape Hatteras, is interesting because of its proximity to an open sound condition to the north and west, as well as its oceanic boundary to the south and east, including the thermally dynamic influence of the Gulf Stream. Such an environment has been found to complicate wind speed estimation at wind turbine hub height. Early exploration of the profiles collected during 2012-2014 from the surface to 200 m revealed distinct characteristics unique to winds coming from Pamlico Sound, as compared to those coming from the Atlantic. In order to quantify the effect of atmospheric stability on the wind profiles, an aggregation of ancillary data was collected, including surface sea and air temperature, and surface humidity to calculate a Monin-Obukhov Similarity scaling parameter. The ancillary data, in combination with knowledge of upwind conditions, topography, and ocean thermal structure, is being used to test the ability of simple theory to reproduce the structure of wind profiles from the two environments assuming nested internal boundary layers. This work will provide a more refined method of estimating the available wind resource for use in offshore wind energy development in this particular coastal region.