Potential wind power generation in the State of Kuwait

The wind characteristics of six locations in the State of Kuwait have been assessed. The annual average wind speed for the considered sites ranged from 3.7 to 5.5 m/s and a mean wind power density from 80 to 167 W/m² at standard height of 10 m. The Weibull parameters and power density of each station have been determined using Weibull distribution. The wind data at heights 15, 20, 25 and 30 m were obtained by extrapolation of the 10 m data using the Power-Law. The potential wind energy at different heights was estimated using Weibull parameters. Maximum power density is found at 30 m height which varies between 130 and 275 W/m² with 70% increase from the standard height indicating fairly potential wind energy especially in the northern part of the country. The highest potential wind power was found during the summer season which is the peak demand season of electricity in Kuwait.     

Investigation on wind power potential on Hong Kong islands—an analysis of wind power and wind turbine characteristics

This paper discusses the potential for electricity generation on Hong Kong islands through an analysis of the local weather data and typical wind turbine characteristics. An optimum wind speed, u_op, is proposed to choose an optimal type of wind turbine for different weather conditions. A simulation model has been established to describe the characteristics of a particular wind turbine. A case study investigation allows wind speed and wind power density to be obtained using different hub heights, and the annual power generated by the wind turbine to be simulated. The wind turbine's capacity factor, being the ratio of actual annual power generation to the rated annual power generation, is shown to be 0.353, with the capacity factor in October as high as 0.50. The simulation shows the potential for wind power generation on the islands surrounding Hong Kong.     

A new semi-empirical wind turbine capacity factor for maximizing annual electricity and hydrogen production

The capacity factor is an important wind turbine parameter which is ratio of average output electrical power to rated electrical power of the wind turbine. Another main factor, the AEP, the annual energy production, can be determined using wind characteristics and wind turbine performance. Lower rated power may lead to higher capacity factor but will reduce the AEP. Therefore, it is important to consider simultaneously both the capacity factor and the AEP in design or selecting a wind turbine. In this work, a new semi-empirical secondary capacity factor is introduced for determining a rated wind speed at which yearly energy and hydrogen production obtain a maximum value. This capacity factor is expressed as ratio of the AEP for wind turbine to yearly wind energy delivered by mean wind speed at the rotor swept area. The methodology is demonstrated using the empirical efficiency curve of Vestas-80 2 MW turbine and the Weibull probability density function. Simultaneous use of the primary and the secondary capacity factors are discussed for maximizing electrical energy and hence hydrogen production for different wind classes and economic feasibility are scrutinized in several wind stations in Kuwait.     

Evaluating economic uncertainty of municipal wind turbine projects

Communities across the country are increasingly considering wind power to provide municipal needs as a result of increasing energy costs and concern about atmospheric emissions; however, with uncertainty in wind conditions, most municipalities lack the expertise to evaluate these proposals without outside consultants. This paper provides a simple but robust methodology that can be used by municipalities in order to determine the economic returns of a wind proposal, allowing the community to determine the probability of success and to quantify the risks associated with the proposal. Adjustable economic parameters are initial cost, annual operating cost, interest rate, loan payback period, turbine life, and energy cost and inflation. Adjustable engineering parameters are mean annual wind speed and its standard deviation and turbine performance characteristics. A spreadsheet that performs the calculations is available from the author. A case study performed for the Town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts illustrates the methodology.     

Evaluation of wind energy investment interest and electricity generation cost analysis for Turkey

Turkey has remarkable wind energy potential, but its utilisation rate is very low. However, in 2007, energy investors applied to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) with 751 wind projects to obtain a 78180.2 MW wind power plant license. This paper first presents an overview of wind energy development in the world and then reviews related situations in Turkey. Second, to motivate the interest in wind energy investment, new wind power plant license applications in Turkey are analysed. Finally, wind electricity generation cost analyses were performed at 14 locations in Turkey. Capacity factors of investigated locations were calculated between 19.7% and 56.8%, and the production cost of electrical energy was between 1.73 and 4.99 $cent/kW h for two different wind shear coefficients.     

Assessment of wind characteristics and wind turbine characteristics in Taiwan

Wind characteristics and wind turbine characteristics in Taiwan have been thoughtfully analyzed based on a long-term measured data source (1961–1999) of hourly mean wind speed at 25 meteorological stations across Taiwan. A two-stage procedure for estimating wind resource is proposed. The yearly wind speed distribution and wind power density for the entire Taiwan is firstly evaluated to provide annually spatial mean information of wind energy potential. A mathematical formulation using a two-parameter Weibull wind speed distribution is further established to estimate the wind energy generated by an ideal turbine and the monthly actual wind energy generated by a wind turbine operated at cubic relation of power between cut-in and rated wind speed and constant power between rated and cut-out wind speed. Three types of wind turbine characteristics (the availability factor, the capacity factor and the wind turbine efficiency) are emphasized. The monthly wind characteristics and monthly wind turbine characteristics for four meteorological stations with high winds are investigated and compared with each other as well. The results show the general availability of wind energy potential across Taiwan.     

Fault analysis of wind turbine generators in India

Wind energy has become a techno-economically viable source of energy and is considered as a preferable renewable energy resources option in the power sector in India. If the current pace of development is maintained for at least a few decades, India would soon possess the highest windfarm installation in the world and a significant portion of the country's energy needs could be met through wind power. The available wind energy resource can be utilised to the greater extent by optimally siting the windfarms, by appropriate machine selection and by proper maintenance. An attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of wind turbine generators for the largest demonstration windfarm (10 MW) in Asia. This windfarm is situated at Lamba, Gujarat State with 50 wind turbine machines of 200 kW capacity. The technical availability, real availability, capacity factor and maximum down time of the wind turbine generators have been calculated and plotted over the year. About 30 fault conditions have been identified and analysed by pareto diagram.     

Wind to power a new city in Oman

This paper proposes the use of wind power as a source of electricity in a new city being developed in the Duqm area of Oman. Recent wind speed measurements taken at the Duqm metrological station are analyzed to obtain the annual and monthly wind probability distribution profiles represented by Weibull parameters. The monthly average mean wind speed ranges between 2.93 m/s in February and 9.76 m/s in July, with an annual average of 5.33 m/s.A techno-economic evaluation of a wind power project is presented to illustrate the project's viability. Given Duqm's wind profile and the power curve characteristics of a V90-1.8 turbine, an annual capacity factor of 0.36 is expected. For the base-case assumptions, the cost of electricity is about $0.05 and $0.08 per kWh for discount rates of 5% and 10%, respectively. These values are higher than that of the existing generation system, due to the subsidized prices of domestically available natural gas. However, given high international natural gas prices, the country's long-term LNG export obligations, and the expansion of natural gas-based industries, investments in wind power in Duqm can be justified. A feed-in tariff and capital cost allowance policies are recommended to facilitate investments in this sector.     

An investigation on wind power potential of Nurda ı-Gaziantep, Turkey

Turkey is one of the developing countries. The production of electricity in Turkey is basically focused on hydro-power and thermal-power. On the other hand, measurements show that Turkey has a reasonable wind potential but this potential was not being used for many years due to government policies which supported the use of petroleum, coal, and hydro power as energy sources. In recent years there is an increasing interest in using wind energy as one of the energy sources. This paper briefly introduces a study of the determination of wind power potential of Nurda ı/Gaziantep district where is on the south of Turkey for future wind power generation projects. Evaluation of wind data; taken by Turkish Electrical Power Resources Development Administration at the foot of the mountain, Nurda ı, shows that the district has a mean wind speed of 7.3 m/s at 10 m height and observed highest value wind speed is 23.3 m/s. Mean power density of the site is found as 222 W/m² and the results suggest that the site encourages investors especially since the terrain is a grassy plain on the side of the mountain and the measurements are taken at 10 m height.     

Analysis of wind potential and characteristics in North Aegean, Greece

Wind data for the years 2000 and 2001 were analyzed to evaluate the wind potential of the Mikra–Thessaloniki, region in northern Greece. The objective of the analysis was the establishment of the required criteria to answer the question: “are the renewable energy sources capable to maintain the operation of a desalination pilot unit?” The polar diagrams of the wind (wind speed, frequency, direction), the mean monthly and annual wind speed profile and the Weibull distributions for the years 2000 and 2001 are presented.     

Wind characteristics and wind energy potential in Morocco

The wind characteristics of 11 sites in the windy regions in Morocco have been analysed. The annual average wind speed for the considered sites ranged from 5 m/s to 10 m/s and the average power density from 100 W/m² to 1000 W/m², which might be suitable for electrical power production by installing wind farms. On an annual scale the observations of the distribution of hourly wind speed are better fitted by the Weibull hybrid distribution in contrast to the Weibull distribution.The wind power is estimated to be 1817 MW, that is to say, the exploitable wind energy is 15198 GWh, which represents theoretically 11% of the total consumed energy in Morocco in 1994.     

Wind resource assessment in the state of Arizona: Inventory, capacity factor, and cost

During the summer of 2003, the state of Arizona took delivery of a set of high-resolution wind energy maps that were developed with a meso-scale wind energy model coupled with wind data. The geographical information system data supplied with the wind maps was used to create a wind resource inventory that included wind energy potential, proximity to transmission lines, and land ownership. Four diverse sites were selected for further study, one predominantly class 3, one predominantly class 4, one predominantly class 5, and one predominantly class 6. At each site, the capacity factor was determined, the seasonal influence was observed, and the real levelized cost of energy in 2005 dollars determined. As the wind class varied from 6 to 3 the levelized cost of energy ranged from 4.22 to 6.00 cents/kWh. These results do not include the production tax credit or the renewable energy production incentive, do include adjustments for elevation, losses, and inflation, and are considered conservative. This paper documents the findings of the wind mapping process, describes the method and results of evaluating the most promising sites for wind development, and presents the cost of energy results.     

Second law analysis of wind turbine power plants: Cesme, Izmir example

In this study, the energy and exergy efficiency results of the Wind Turbine Power Plants (WTPPs) are presented. Exergy, energy and technical availability analysis are performed. The case study includes the actual system data taken from the system in Cesme, Izmir WTPP. General energy, exergy and other performance parameters are also presented. Investigated WTPP is Turkey’s first installed (1998) wind plant (1.50 MW) located in Izmir. Exergy efficiency of the power plant found to be between 0% and 68.20%. The monthly average technical availabilities are 96.11%, 98.71%, 98.52% for turbine 1, turbine 2, and turbine 3, respectively. Furthermore, authors developed some correlations, which are capable of predicting the values of exergy efficiencies of the WTPP for different power factor value.     

Wind power resource in the south-western region of Algeria

In this study, we present a statistical analysis of wind speeds at Tindouf in Algeria using Risoe National Laboratory's Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). It requires information related to the sheltering obstacles, surface roughness changes and terrain height variations in order to calculate their effects on the wind. Wind data, consisting of hourly wind speed records over a 5-year period, 2002–2006, were obtained from SONELGAZ R&D Office; the average wind speed at a height of 17 m above ground level was found to range from 7.19 to 7.95 m/s. The Weibull distributions parameters (c and k) were found to vary between 8.0 and 8.9 m/s and 2.54–3.23, respectively, with average power density ranging from 318 to 458 W/m². The dominant wind directions and the frequency distributions were also determined.     

A review of power converter topologies for wind generators

Wind energy conversion systems have become a focal point in the research of renewable energy sources. This is in no small part due to the rapid advances in the size of wind generators as well as the development of power electronics and their applicability in wind energy extraction. This paper provides a comprehensive review of past and present converter topologies applicable to permanent magnet generators, induction generators, synchronous generators and doubly fed induction generators. The many different generator–converter combinations are compared on the basis of topology, cost, efficiency, power consumption and control complexity. The features of each generator–converter configuration are considered in the context of wind turbine systems.     

Assessing the suitability of wind speed probabilty distribution functions based on wind power density

Three functions have so far predominantly been used for fitting the measured wind speed probability distribution in a given location over a certain period of time, typically monthly or yearly. In the literature, it is common to fit these functions to compare which one fits the measured distribution best in a particular location. During this comparison process, parameters on which the suitability of the fit is judged are required. The parameters that are mostly used are the mean wind speed or the total wind energy output (primary parameters). It is, however, shown in the present study that one cannot judge the suitability of the functions based on the primary parameters alone. Additional parameters (secondary parameters) that complete the primary parameters are required to have a complete assessment of the fit, such as the discrepancy between the measured and fitted distributions, both for the wind speed and wind energy (that is the standard deviation of wind speed and wind energy distributions). Therefore, the secondary statistical parameters have to be known as well as the primary ones to make a judgement about the suitability of the distribution functions analysed. The primary and secondary parameters are calculated from the 12-month of measured hourly wind speed data and detailed analyses of wind speed distributions are undertaken in the present article.     

Wind power energy potential at the northeastern region of Saudi Arabia

In the present study the energy potential of wind for the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia is investigated. A suitable Weibull distribution is generated based on the data obtained for a duration of one complete year at a costal location in northeastern Saudi Arabia. Comparison of this model is made with the Rayleigh distribution of wind power densities. Two horizontal-axis type of wind energy conversion systems which operate at fixed rpm are considered and a model of quadratic power output function is used. It is found that the error in using the Rayleigh approximation will be less than 10% of the full rated power density level.     

Heuristic and probabilistic wind power availability estimation procedures: Improved tools for technology and site selection

The paper describes two investigative procedures to estimate wind power from measured wind velocities. Wind velocity data are manipulated to visualize the site potential by investigating the probable wind power availability and its capacity to meet a targeted demand. The first procedure is an availability procedure that looks at the wind characteristics and its probable energy capturing profile. This profile of wind enables the probable maximum operating wind velocity profile for a selected wind turbine design to be predicted. The structured procedures allow for a consequent adjustment, sorting and grouping of the measured wind velocity data taken at different time intervals and hub heights. The second procedure is the adequacy procedure that investigates the probable degree of availability and the application consequences. Both procedures are programmed using MathCAD symbolic mathematical software. The math tool is used to generate a visual interpolation of the data as well as numerical results from extensive data sets that exceed the capacity of conventional spreadsheet tools. Two sites located in Southern Ontario, Canada are investigated using the procedures. Successful implementation of the procedures supports informed decision making where a hill site is shown to have much higher wind potential than that measured at the local airport. The process is suitable for a wide spectrum of users who are considering the energy potential for either a grid-tied or off-grid wind energy system.