Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study

for Wind Energy Analysis

/IS

using CARTOSAT 1 and RESOURCESAT 2 DATA

sc

Presented by:

nr

M. Nithya Kalyani, M.Sc, PG Dip (GIS)

Ananya Mukherjee, M.Sc

Genesys International Corporation Ltd.

Genesys International Corporation Limited

About Genesys
Genesys International Corporation Ltd. established in 1995 is a ISMS 27001:2005 and ISO
9001:2008 company specializing in Geographical Information System (GIS) and Geospatial
Engineering domain.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Genesys operates seven Geospatial production and

software development centers in India. Genesys has worldwide operations with offices in the
USA, UK, Europe and the UAE.

With state-of-the-art infrastructure and a growing list of Fortune 500 and SME clients,
Genesys is well positioned to play a significant role in the global GIS and Geospatial
Engineering services industry.

The firm has an unique understanding of emerging consumer applications around mapping
technologies as well as the capability on the enterprise side to offer solutions using state-ofart remote sensing, LIDAR (aerial, mobile and Terrestrial), geotechnical surveys and
Photogrammetric solutions.
We have the largest Mobile LIDAR fleet in India.

nr

sc

/IS

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Project Summary
Genesys International Corporation Ltd. did a project for Suzlon Energy Ltd in 2012,
where Topographical Information System was used to calculate the effective LULC
roughness index for analyzing the best locations for establishment of wind turbines.

The main aim of this study was to calculate roughness index and also prepare Digital
Elevation Model of the given area, using remote sensing technology.

Cartosat 1 and Resourcesat 2 datasets were used for creating various maps, which
included:
DEM
LULC map
Roughness Index map

nr

sc

/IS

Genesys International Corporation Limited

What is Topographic Information System

Topographic information systems (TIS), stores the natural and artificial landscape in the form of
digital models.
These are not very closely detailed but, on the other hand, are not significantly generalised.
A digital elevation model (DEM) is a component of a TIS.

What do we mean by Roughness Index

/IS

Wind speed is so low at ground level due to ground drag. Ground drag is caused by friction when air
flows across a surface. Friction is the force that resists movement of one material against another.

sc

When wind flows across land or water, friction dramatically reduces the speed with which wind flows
over land. Ground drag due to friction varies considerably, depending on the texture or roughness of
the surface.

nr

The rougher or more irregular the surface, the greater friction. As a result, air flowing across the
surface of a lake encounters less friction (low roughness index) than air flowing over a meadow (high
roughness index).
Air flowing over a meadow encounters less friction than air flowing over a forest.

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Roughness Classification and Values

Roughness
length, Zo (m)

Energy Index
(%)

Landscape

0.0002

100

Water surface

0.5

0.0024

73

Completely open terrain with a smooth surface, such as concrete runways in

airports, mowed grass.

0.03

52

Open agricultural area without fences and hedgerows and very scattered buildings.
Only softly rounded hills.

1.5

0.055

45

Agricultural land with some houses and 8 meter tall sheltering hedgerows within a
distance of about 1250m.

0.1

39

2.5

0.2

31

0.4

3.5

0.8

1.6

/IS

Roughness
Class

Agricultural land with some houses and 8 meter tall sheltering hedgerows within a
distance of about 500 m.

sc

Agricultural land with many houses, shrubs and plants, or 8 meters tall sheltering
hedgerows within a distance of about 250 meters.

nr

24

Villages, small towns, agricultural land with many or tall sheltering hedgerows,
forests and very rough and uneven terrain.

18

Larger cities with tall buildings.

13

Very large cities with tall buildings and sky scrapers.

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

What is Wind Energy

All winds are produced by differences in air pressure between two regions, which is the result of uneven heating of
Earths surface.
The kinetic energy of the moving air particles is converted to electricity or energy.
Wind turbines, unlike most other generators, can produce energy only in response to the resource (wind) that is
directly available. It is not possible to store the wind and use it at a later time.
The output of a wind turbine is thus inherently fluctuating and so cannot be directly fed to a grid.
Hence, It is rather important to understand how much power is available in the wind in order to realize how much
energy can be delivered from wind to energy systems.
No wind turbine can produce more than 59.3% of the power available in the wind, which is called as Bertz limit.

/IS

Wind Energy has inherent strength to support rural employment and uplift of rural economy.
Further, unlike all other sources of power, wind energy does not consume any water-which in itself will become a
scarce commodity.
The fuel is free, and also it doesnt produce CO2 emission.
Wind farm can be built reasonably fast, the wind farm land can be used for farming as well thus serving dual
purpose, and it is cost-effective as compare to other forms of renewable energy.

nr

sc

its Advantages.

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

nr

sc

/IS

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Wind Energy - Basics

The quantity of available energy comes from the kinetic
energy equation.
Where,

E= (m.v2 )/ 2

Mass of air particle can be calculated by:

Where,

/IS

m= p.A.l

nr

sc

By inserting the mass flow to the above equation the

following formula for the power available in the wind is
obtained.
Hence, Available Energy (P)= (p.A.v3 )
Speed of Air :
v= v*/K. ln( h/Zo )

E = Kinetic energy
m = Mass of the air particles
passing through the wind tube
v = Wind speed

Where,

p=Air density
A= Area of the wind tube
l= Length of the wind tube

v= Speed (m/s)
v*= Friction velocity (m/s)
K= Von Karman constant ( K= 0.4)
h= Height above ground (m)
Zo = Surface roughness length (m)

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Project Objectives

Creation of Digital Elevation Model using Cartosat-1 Stereo pair satellite data
with a Z-accuracy of +/- 5m.

Data Fusion of Resourcesat-2 and Cartosat-1 satellite data.

/IS

Preparation of Landuse / Landcover maps using the merged product of

Resourcesat-2 and Cartosat-1 satellite data.

nr

sc

Roughness Index calculation for suitable site selection of wind turbine

location.

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Study Overview
DEM Extraction

Topographic Information
System

Satellite Data

sc

Landuse \ Landcover
Roughness Index Classes

/IS

Landuse \ Landcover Classes

nr

Inputs
Cartosat-1 stereo pair satellite data
Resourcesat-2 satellite data
DGPS controls from Ground Survey

PanSharp & Ortho rectify

Roughness Index

Output
Extracted CartoDEM from stereo pair
Supervised Classification for LULC Classes
Topography Study
Roughness Index

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Study Area

Fig.01

nr

Maharastra

sc

/IS

India

The study area - 762.75 sq km, in the South Western side of Maharashtra, India.

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Urmodi Lake

nr

sc

/IS

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Satellite Data

Fig.02

Cartosat -1 (2.5 m)

nr

sc

Resourcesat -2 (5m)

/IS

PanSharpened Product (2.5 m)

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

LandUse LandCover Classification

nr

sc

/IS

Fig.03

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Digital Elevation Model

nr

sc

/IS

Fig.04

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Roughness Index

nr

sc

/IS

Fig. 05

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Roughness - LULC Index

nr

sc

/IS

Fig. 06

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

Genesys International Corporation Limited

Conclusions
Cartosat -1 / Resourecesat 2 data was proved to be ideal for Roughness index
calculations and topographic mapping as required by the Wind Energy industry.

CartoDEM extracted from the stereo pairs showed very high accuracy and details
compared to any other off the shelf DTM products available.

The Project Methodology adopted is Time saving & Economical.

nr

sc

/IS

Topographical Information System & Roughness Index Study for Wind Energy Analysis

/IS

sc

nr