Proposta de uma metodologia para utilização de energia eólica offshore no litoral Sudeste do Brasil

Abstract

Electricity generation is a global challenge to be faced by several countries. This has led to the pursuit and development of new clean technologies to sustainable supply of the growing world demand for energy. Currently the main sources of renewable energy are: biomass, solar, geothermal, tidal, wind on and offshore (land and sea). Among these sources, wind energy presents worldwide growth and recently a significant increase in its use in the offshore segment. Brazil is among the ten largest onshore wind power producers in the world, however it does not have yet any offshore wind farms. The country has great potential for exploration of offshore wind power, since there are large population concentrations with increasing energy demands in coastal areas and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of approximately 3.5 × 10^6 km^2. The objective of this work was to develop a methodology for the use of offshore wind energy through the proposal of an offshore wind farm on the Southeast coast of Brazil. The study was carried out for the Southeast region of Brazil in order to complement the energy matrix of the region, which today is mostly composed of hydroelectric power plants. The offshore wind farm proposal was carried out following the methodology developed in this work, which is based on two different types of data collection sources: ocean buoys and automatic meteorological stations. Weibull frequency distributions were calculated for each data collection source, power curve and capacity factor for the selected wind turbines in each locality, in order to identify the best location for the utilization of offshore wind energy in the Southeast region. The location of the collection point Cabo Frio 2 presented the best wind characteristics for offshore wind energy production, however its installation would require great complexity, so the selected collection point for the installation of an offshore wind farm in this work was the station A606 - Arraial do Cabo. The capacity factor calculated in the selected region was 0,51 for the wind turbine with lower power and 0,39 for the wind turbine with higher power, and the calculated wind speed at the reference height was 7,77 m/s, which is an adequate value for wind energy production. The wind farm proposed for this region is capable of supplying annually 604.461 MWh through 39 wind turbines, which are enough to supply the energy demand of approximately 115,870 residences during the whole year in a county located in the state of Rio de Janeiro.