An investigation of means of wind speed and wind direction at the altitudes of 30 and 40 meters: A case study of Sathing Phra district, Songkhla province

Abstract

       The different heights of wind observation required different investment costs for sensor and meteorological tower (met tower) installation as well as wind power class. Consequently, the suitable height of met tower becomes a crucial independent variable to be taken into consideration. The main objective of this research is to investigate the mean wind speed (meters per second) and wind direction (degrees) at coastal area of Sathing Phra district in Songkhla province for two heights of met tower, i.e., 30 and 40 meters. The wind speed and wind direction were observed by the Solar and Wind Energy Research Unit at Thaksin University starting from 1 January 2011 to 28 June 2011 with the total number of 179 sampling values for each elevation. Results based on Hotelling’s T2 test showed that the means of wind speed and wind direction at the altitudes 30 and 40 meters are not different at the significance level 0.05. Therefore, we can say that the alternative way to reduce the costs of equipment and installation, including the costs of operations is the installation of met tower at an altitude of 30 meter more than 40 meter.