wind energy and barbados

Wind Energy and Barbados

Dr Tom Rogers, Lecturer, CMP, Cave Hill


Where is Barbados?

(EIA, 2010)

Barbados

About Barbados

Population: 280,000

Area: 430 km2

Economic: Manufacturing and Tourism

Political: Stable (3rd oldest Parliament)

Member of Small Island Developing

States (SIDS)


About Barbados


A long history in Barbados

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Wind speed bin (m/s)


Wind speed probability for Barbados

Wind data from Barbados airport

Average wind speed – 6.6 m/s (at 10m)

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Monthly average wind speed for Barbados



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Daily average wind speed for Barbados




Onshore utility scale

Past experience

• One 200kW wind turbine

• Installed in parish of St Lucy

• Concrete tower

• Stainless steel blades

• Operated from 1984 - 1988

• Many reliability problems

• Eventually abandoned due to

safety concerns


Onshore utility scale

• 10MW wind farm planned in St Lucy parish (expected 2014)

• 30% capacity factor is estimated (comparable with good wind farms)

• Onshore, utility scale wind is limited by available locations

• Only 3-4 potential sites available in Barbados

• Planning is currently a big issue for wind farm installation

• Would meet ~3% of Barbados’s energy needs

Artists impression of the 10MW St Lucy site


Offshore

20m depth contour

The pro’s of offshore

•Better wind regimes offshore

•Less disturbance for a space limited island

•Easier to install larger turbines

However, technical challenges are large

•~50% more expensive to install offshore

•O&M costs are higher

•Currently limited to 20m water depth

Proposed 10MW

wind farm site


Small scale

3kW Kestrel e400 residential installation

Small Wind is starting to appear (<10kW)

Cost of electricity ~33 US¢/kWh

BL&P Renewable Energy Pilot project

- 200 installations or 1.6MW of grid-connect

- Net metering at ~20 US¢/kWh

Thank you for listening

wind energy and barbados

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