We hear how the wind blows all the time here. Soft Caribbean breezes and all that. And, of course, the occasional hurricane. What we do not seem to have is good wind energy sites.
This is a map showing wind energy in Puerto Rico at 50 meters elevation. It was done by Dept of Energy and available at several sites on the web.
The key thing to notice is that of PR is colored white. The legend tells us that White means 5-9 meters/second windspeed and is rated "Poor" There are some beige areas offshore rated "marginal"
In a press release from Gestamp, who developed the now defunct (temporarily? Permanently?) Naguabo wind farm, they take issue with the poor rating saying that at 75 meters, the height of their towers, the wind speed is marginal. True, but just barely.
https://aeepr.com/Documentos/Ley57/Tablas%20Compra%20de%20Energ%C3%ADa.pdf
I ran their numbers through a spreadsheet and find that they generated on average a tad less than 53,000MWH/yr with an average output of about 6MW or a shade more than 25% of nameplate capacity.
Doesn't seem like a lot of power for such a massive, unsightly, expensive investment. Not to mention non-dispatchable and inconsistent.
Their contract, available here shows PREPA paying 12 cents/kwh (Years 1-5) decreasing in steps to 9 cents in years 16-20.
https://aeepr.com/Documentos/Ley57/CONTRATOS/Contrato%20Solar%20Project%20Ponce%20(Fonroche%20Naguabo)%202013-P00045.pdf
Should PR really be thinking of windpower?
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