Search

Before the appeal for growth measures of renewable energy use in the global scenario and the great Brazilian dependence on hydroelectric energy, this paper intends to open a debate on the capacity of wind energy use in in the top of hills and mountains, considering the promising wind potential in these regions. In addition, there are many cooperatives in Brazil where the use of sustainable technologies could make possible reduce production costs. Therefore, the Agricultural Cooperative of Vieira, located in Teresópolis, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, was chosen for a technical feasibility study for the implementation of wind turbines in a distributed generation system. The wind data provided by the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) was manipulated and the Law of the Wall was applied to establish the logarithmic wind profile, to estimate the electricity production of the national aerogenerator selected and compare the results with the real consumption of a reference field. Thus, it is verified the ability of the local wind resource to generate electricity throughout the year, contributing to increase the use of wind power in mountainous regions and consequently to expand the diversification of the Brazilian energy matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]