ESTIMATE OF EOLIC POTENTIAL OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL STATE, BRAZIL – PART ONE

The option for generalized and ecologically feasible models for generating energy has been a concern of the government of most countries. Particularly, the wind power constitutes a copious and inexhaustible source of renewable energy that is available in many locations. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the eolic potential of some locations of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The average pentad speed of wind were estimated by approximation to the normal distribution for the probabilities of 1% to 99%. The expected eolic potential was determined by the Betz’s formula for five locals of the Rio Grande do Sul State: Cachoeirinha, Rio Grande, Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Vitória do Palmar e São Gabriel. The initial estimates of the eolic potential for the probability levels of 25%, 50% and 75% of the pentad average speed revealed adequate for the various agricultural and tourist activities in the five locations. This is valuable information for electric generating plants projects in the neighborhood of the locations that originated the observed data.