Abstract

DEL CAMPO-MARQUEZ, C. Martín; NELSON-EDELSTEIN, P.F.  and  GARCIA-VAZQUEZ, M.Á.. Wind Power in Mexico: Simulation of a Wind Farm and Application of Probabilistic Safety Analysis. Ing. invest. y tecnol. [online]. 2009, vol.10, n.4, pp.343-352. ISSN 2594-0732.

The most important aspects of wind energy in Mexico, including the potential for generating electricity and the major projects planned are presented here. Inparticular, the generation costs are compared to those of other energy sources. The results from the simulation of a 100 MWwind farm in the Tehuantepec Isthmus are also presented. In addition, the environmental impacts related to the wind farm in the mentioned zone are analyzed. Finally, some benefits of using Probabilistic Safety Analysis are discussed with respect to evaluating the risks associated with events that can occur in wind parks, being especially useful for design and maintenance of the parks and the wind turbines themselves. In particular, an event tree was developed to analyze possible accident sequences that could occur when the wind speed is too great. Also, fault trees were developed for each mitigating system considered, in order to determine the relative importance of the wind generator components to the failure sequences, in order to evaluate the yield of suggested improvements and the optimization of maintenance programs.

Keywords : Wind power; wind farm simulation; probabilistic safety analysis.

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