Feasibility study of harnessing wind energy for turbine installation in province of Yazd in Iran

This paper analyses the wind speed of some major cities in province of Yazd which is located in central part of Iran. Also, the feasibility study of implementing wind turbines to take advantage of wind power is reviewed and then the subject of wind speed and wind potential at different stations is considered. This paper utilized wind speed data over a period of almost 13 years between 1992 and 2005 from 11 stations, to assess the wind power potential at these sites. In this paper, the hourly measured wind speed data at 10 m, 20 m and 40 m height for Yazd province have been statically analyzed to determine the potential of wind power generation. Extrapolation of the 10 m data, using the Power Law, has been used to determine the wind data at heights of 20 m and 40 m. The results showed that most of the stations have annual average wind speed of less than 4.5 m/s which is considered as unacceptable for installation of the wind turbines. City of Herat has higher wind energy potential with annual wind speed average of 5.05 m/s and 6.86 m/s, respectively, at height of 10 m and 40 m above ground level (AGL). This site is a good candidate for remote area wind energy applications. But some more information is required, because the collected data for Herat is only for 2004. Cities of Aghda with 3.96 m/s, Gariz with 3.95 m/s, and Maybod with 3.83 m/s annual wind speed average at height of 10 m above ground level are also able to harness wind by installing small wind turbines. The Tabas and Bafgh sites wind speed data indicated that the two sites have lower annual wind speed averages between 1.56 m/s and 2.22 m/s at 10 m height. The monthly and annual wind speeds at different heights have been studied to ensure optimum selection of wind turbine installation for different stations in Yazd.     

The potential of electricity generation on the east coast of Red Sea in Egypt

Wind characteristics have been analyzed based on long-term measured data of monthly mean wind speed of seven meteorological stations along the east coast of Red Sea in Egypt. It was found that the windiest stations (Region A) namely (Zafarana, Abu Darag, Hurghada and Ras Benas) have annual mean wind speeds (7.3, 7.2, 6.4 and 5.5 m/s) at 10 m height, respectively.Numerical estimations using measured wind speeds and frequencies to calculate the two Weibull parameters were carried out and two methods were applied.The methodical analysis for the corrected monthly wind power density at a height of 10 m above ground level, over roughness class 0 (water), for each station was done. The recommended correlation equation was also stated for Red Sea zone in Egypt. Also the corrected annual wind power density at the heights (50–70) m was obtained for all stations. Moreover, calculations show that the four stations in (Region A) have a huge energy potential available (430–1000 W/m²) at 70 m height, while Quseir and Suez stations (Region B) have good wind power density (170–190 W/m²) at 50 m height.A technical and economic assessment has been made of electricity generation from two turbines machines having capacity of (1000 and 600 kW) considered in Regions A & B, respectively, using WASP program. The yearly energy output, capacity factor and the electrical energy cost of kWh produced by the two different turbines in each region were estimated. The production costs of four stations in Region A was found to be less than 2€ cent/kWh and compared with retail tariff.     

Evaluation of wind energy potential and electricity generation on the coast of Mediterranean Sea in Egypt

Wind data from 10 coastal meteorological stations along the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt have been used for statistical analysis to determine the wind characteristics. It was found that three stations show annual mean wind speed greater than 5.0 m/s. In order to identify the Weibull parameters for all stations two different methods were applied.The methodical analysis for all stations was done for the corrected monthly and annual mean wind power at a height of 10 m, over roughness class 0 (water). The recommended correlation equation was also stated for Mediterranean Sea zone in Egypt. Also the wind power densities for heights of 30–50 m were calculated for all stations. Three of them are the best locations, namely: Sidi Barrani, Mersa Matruh, and El Dabaa, where these contiguous stations have great abundantly wind energy density.A technical assessment has been made of the electricity generation using WASP program for two commercial turbines (300 kW and 1 MW) considering at the three promising sites. The wind turbine of capacity 1 MW was found to produce an energy output per year of 2718 MW h at El Dabaa station, and the production costs was found 2€ cent/kW h.     

Wind energy development policy and prospects in Lithuania

According to the EU Directive 2001/77/EC 7% of all electricity production is to be generated from renewable energy sources (RES) in Lithuania in 2010. Electricity production from RES is determined by hydro, biomass and wind energy resources in Lithuania. Further development of hydro power plants is limited by environmental restrictions, therefore priority is given to wind energy development. The aim of this paper is to show estimation of the maximum wind power penetration in the Lithuanian electricity system using such criteria as wind potential, possibilities of the existing electricity network, possible environmental impact, and social and economical aspects. Generalization of data from the meteorological stations and special measurements shows that the highest average wind speed in Lithuanian territory is in the coastal region and at 50 m above ground level reaches 6.4 m/s. In regard to wind resource distribution in this region, arrangement of electricity grid and environment protection requirements, six zones have been determined for wind power plant construction. Calculations have shown that the largest total installed capacity of wind farms, which could cause no significant increase in power transmission expenses, is 170 MW. The threshold, which cannot be passed without capital reconstruction of electricity network, is 500 MW of total capacity of wind farms.     

Evaluation of internal force superposition on a TLP for wind turbines

The offshore wind resources globally present a great opportunity for green power generation. Both types, fixed and floating foundations, will play a major role in utilizing these resources. The preliminary design of the floating system called GICON^®-Tension Leg Platform (TLP) is meant to provide a solution for harnessing the power of offshore wind at water depths between 20 m and 350 m. In addition a design for water depth up to 700 m is currently under development. The research project is a joint development of private industry and academic institutions. The main partners are ESG GmbH and Technische Universität Freiberg. Currently ongoing research includes the comparison of calculated data with experimental data obtained by wave tank experiments with a scale model at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) in June 2013. These tests have provided insights regarding the dynamic characteristics of the GICON^®-TLP by analyzing the system's response to different load cases. Furthermore, the results of the scale model tests at MARIN have confirmed that a superposition of the internal forces for wind and wave loads can be assumed for the structural design. This can be traced back to the stiffness of the mooring line system and the innovative mooring line configuration.     

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.     

Wind energy resource assessment in Madrid region

The “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid” (Autonomous Community of Madrid, in the following Madrid Region), is a region located at the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula. Its area is 8.028 km², and its population about five million people. The Department of Economy and Technological Innovation of the Madrid Region, together with some organizations dealing on energy saving and other research institutions have elaborated an Energy Plan for the 2004–12 period. As a part of this work, the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory of the Superior Technical School of Industrial Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid has carried out the assessment of the wind energy resources [Crespo A, Migoya E, Gómez Elvira R. La energía eólica en Madrid. Potencialidad y prospectiva. Plan energético de la Comunidad de Madrid, 2004–2012. Madrid: Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid; 2004]; using for this task the WAsP program (Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program), and the own codes, UPMORO (code to study orography effects) and UPMPARK (code to study wake effects in wind parks). Different kinds of data have been collected about climate, topography, roughness of the land, environmentally protected areas, town and village distribution, population density, main facilities and electric power supply. The Spanish National Meteorological Institute has nine wind measurement stations in the region, but only four of them have good and reliable temporary wind data, with time measurement periods that are long enough to provide representative correlations among stations. The Observed Wind Climates of the valid meteorological stations have been made. The Wind Atlas and the resource grid have been calculated, especially in the high wind resource areas, selecting appropriate measurements stations and using criteria based on proximity, similarity and ruggedness index. Some areas cannot be used as a wind energy resource mainly because they have environmental regulation or, in some cases, are very close to densely populated towns. In the finally selected areas, it is assumed that there are hypothetical wind farms, consisting of 2 MW turbines in appropriate configurations, in which the turbines are about 11 diameters apart. Its energy production will give an estimation of the wind energy potential of the Madrid Region.     

Offshore wind power simulation by using WRF in the central coast of Chile

This paper presents the first estimate of offshore wind power potential for the central coast of Chile. For this purpose, wind speed data from in-situ stations and ERA-Interim reanalysis were used to simulate wind fields at regional level by means of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Wind field simulations were performed at different heights (20, 30, 40 and 140 m.a.s.l.) and a spatial resolution of 3 × 3 km for the period from February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007, which comprised the entire series of in-situ data available. The results show an RMSE and r² of 2.2 m s⁻¹ and 0.55 respectively for the three heights simulated as compared to in-situ data. Based on the simulated wind data, the wind power for the study area was estimated at ∼1000 W m⁻² at a height of 140 m.a.s.l. For a typical wind turbine of 8 MW generator, the estimated capacity factor exceeds 40%, with an average annual generation of ∼30 GWh. Offshore wind power in Chile is an emerging renewable energy source that is as yet still under-developed, these estimates help to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about Chile's true renewable energy potential.     

Wind resource assessment of the Jordanian southern region

Wind data in terms of annual, seasonal and diurnal variations at Queira, which is located in the southern part of Jordan was studied and analyzed. For this purpose, long-term wind speed data for a period of 12 years (1990–2001) was used. The analysis showed that the seasonal and diurnal pattern of wind speed matches the electricity load pattern of the location. Higher winds of the order of 6 m/s and more were observed during both the summer months of the year (May–August) and peak hours (1100–1500) of the day. The wind duration availability is discussed as the number of hours during which the wind remained in certain wind speed intervals. The possibility of electricity generation from wind power at Queira was carried out using three different wind energy systems of sizes 100, 22 kW rated power, and a wind farm consisting of 25 small wind turbines; each of 4 kW rated power with hub heights of 20, 30, and 40 m. The energy production analysis showed higher production from the wind farm with a 20 m hub height than the production from the other two wind turbines. Similarly, the cost analysis showed that the lowest generation costs of 1 kWh were obtained for the wind farm compared to the other two wind turbines. The possibility of water pumping using the wind farm was also investigated. The results showed that water pumping using wind turbines is an appropriate alternative for the photovoltaic water pumping in the region.     

Wind energy potential assessment for the offshore areas of Taiwan west coast and Penghu Archipelago

The average wind speed and wind power density of Taiwan had been evaluated at 10 m, 30 m and 50 m by simulation of mesoscale numerical weather prediction model (MM5). The results showed that wind energy potential of this area is excellent. Taiwan has offered funds to encourage the founding of offshore wind farms in this area. The purpose of this study is to make a high resolution wind energy assessment for the offshore area of Taiwan west coast and Penghu archipelago by using WAsP. The result of this study has been used to the relative financial planning of offshore wind farm projects in Taiwan. The basic inputs of WAsP include wind weather data and terrain data. The wind weather data was from a monitoring station located on a remote island, Tongi, because that all of weather stations in the area of Taiwan west coast are affected by urbanization. SRTM was selected to be used as terrain data and downloaded from CGIAR-CSI for voids problem. The coverage of considered terrain area in this assessment work is about 300 km × 400 km that made some difficulties to run wind energy assessment of the whole area with a high resolution of 100 m. So the interested area of this study is divided into 19 areas for the wind energy assessment and mapping. The assessment results show the Changhua area has best wind energy potential in the area of Taiwan west coast which power density is above 1000 W/m² height and the areas of Penghu archipelago are above 1300 W. These results are higher than the expected from NWP. 180 of 3 MW wind turbines were used in the study of micro sitting in the Changhua area.The type and number of the wind turbines and the layout of the wind farm is similar to the prior study of Taipower Company for demonstrating the reliability of this study. The assessment result of average net annual energy production (AEP) of the wind farm is about 11.3 GWh that is very close to the prior study. The terrain effect is also studied. The average net annual energy production will decrease about 0.7 GWh if the wind turbines were moved eastward 3600 m closer to the coast because of terrain effect. As the same reason, the average net annual energy production would be increased to 11.392 GWh if the wind farm is moved westward 3600 m away from the coast.     

Wind energy resource assessment for five locations in Saudi Arabia

The analysis of recently collected wind data at five sites in Saudi Arabia namely, Dhulum, Arar, Yanbu, Gassim and Dhahran is presented. The five sites represent different geographically and climatologically conditions. The data collected over a period spanned between 1995 and 2002 with different collection periods for each site. Daily, monthly and frequency profiles of the wind speed at the sites showed that Dhulum and Arar sites have higher wind energy potential with annual wind speed average of 5.7 and 5.4 m/s and speeds higher than 5 m/s for 60 and 47% of the time, respectively. The two sites are candidates for remote area wind energy applications. The costal site's, i.e. Yanbu and Dhahran wind speed data indicated that the two sites have lower annual wind speed averages and wind blows at speed higher than 5 m/s during afternoon hours. That makes the two sites candidates for grid connected wind systems for electrical load peak shaving. The data of Gassim site showed that the site has the lowest wind energy potential compared to the others. The annual energy produced by a Nordex N43 wind machine is estimated to be 1080, 990, 730, 454 and 833 MWh for Dhulum, Arar, Yanbu, Gassim and Dhahran, respectively. The analysis showed that the estimated annual energy produced by the machine based on 10 min averaged data is 2.5% higher than the estimated energy based on 30 min averaged data.     

Optimal design of wind-powered hydrogen refuelling station for some selected cities of South Africa

The transport sector is considered as one of the sectors producing high carbon emissions worldwide due to the use of fossil fuels. Hydrogen is a non-toxic energy carrier that could serve as a good alternative to fossil fuels. The use of hydrogen vehicles could help reduce carbon emissions thereby cutting down on greenhouse gases and environmental pollution. This could largely be achieved when hydrogen is produced from renewable energy sources and is easily accessible through a widespread network of hydrogen refuelling stations. In this study, the techno-economic assessment was performed for a wind-powered hydrogen refuelling station in seven cities of South Africa. The aim is to determine the optimum configuration of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by wind energy resources for each of the cities as well as to determine their economic viability and carbon emission reduction capability. The stations were designed to cater for 25 hydrogen vehicles every day, each with a 5 kg tank capacity. The results show that a wind-powered hydrogen refuelling station is viable in South Africa with the cost of hydrogen production ranging from 6.34 $/kg to 8.97 $/kg. These costs are competitive when compared to other costs of hydrogen production around the world. The cities located in the coastal region of South Africa are more promising for siting wind powered-hydrogen refuelling station compared to the cities located on the mainland. The hydrogen refuelling stations could reduce the CO₂ and CO emissions by 73.95 tons and 0.133 tons per annum, respectively.     

Wind energy potential in Antakya and skenderun regions, Turkey

The aim of this study is to establish the potential and the feasibility basis for the wind energy resources in some locations of East Mediterranean region of Turkey and provide suitable data for evaluating the potential wind power. For this purpose, hourly wind data, which were observed between the years 1997 and 2001 at the meteorological stations of Antakya and skenderun regions, were used. The dominant wind directions, the mean values, wind speeds, wind potential and the frequency distributions were determined. The results were classified according to the height above the ground level. Finally, the wind atlas of these regions in the form of contours of constant wind speed and wind potential was produced.     

Evaluation of wind energy potential and electricity generation at six locations in Turkey

In this study, wind characteristics were analyzed using the wind speed data collected of the six meteorological stations in Turkey during the period 2000–2006. The annual mean wind speed of the six stations (Erzurum, Elaz??, Bingöl, Kars, Manisa and Ni?de) is obtained as 8.7, 8.5, 5.9, 6.9, 7.4 and 8.0 m/s at 10 m height, respectively. The mean annual value of Weibull shape parameter k is between 1.71 and 1.96 while the annual value of scale parameter c is between 6.81 and 9.71 m/s. A technical assessment has been made of electricity generation from four wind turbines having capacity of (600 kW, 1000 kW, 1500 kW and 2000 kW). The yearly energy output and capacity factor for the four different turbines were calculated.     

Evaluation of electricity generation and energy cost of wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) in Central Turkey

The negative effects of non-renewable fossil fuels have forced scientists to draw attention to clean energy sources which are both environmentally more suitable and renewable. Although Turkey enjoys fairly high wind energy potential, an investigation and exploitation of this source is still below the desired level. In this study which is a preliminary study on wind energy cost in Central Anatolian-Turkey, the wind energy production using time-series approach and the economic evaluation of various wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) enjoying the 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 and 150 kW rated power size using the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) method for the seven different locations in Central Turkey were estimated. In addition, effects of escalation ratio of operation and maintenance cost and annual mean speed on LCOE are taken into account. The wind speed data for a period between 2000 and 2006 years were taken from Turkish State Meteorological Service (TSMS). According to the result of the calculations, it is shown that the WECS of capacity 150 kW produce the energy output 120,978 kWh per year in the Case-A (Pinarbasi) for hub height 30 m and also the LCOE varies in the range of 0.29–30.0 $/kWh for all WECS considered.     

Wind power potential of Baja California Sur, México

This work is an analysis of wind characteristics of Baja California Sur (BCS), México, during the period from February 1997 to February 1998. Fifteen wind stations located in the eastern coastal area recorded the wind speed and wind direction for this region. The wind resources of BCS were recorded and the annual average wind speed, power density, and annual energy density at 10 m above ground level are presented here.We considered the wind data from El Cardón, BCS, as a case study. This location can be considered to be representative of the 15 wind stations that were installed in BCS. Using the Weibull probability density function, we estimated the wind energy output and the capacity factor for two different wind turbines during the year. The capacity factors for both wind turbines were estimated at close to 25%. Considering the wind energy output and the capacity factor, we estimated the levelized production costs for both wind turbines. Taking into account two different discount rates of 7% and 10%, we developed data for the levelized production cost of both wind turbines.     

Potential wind power generation in South Egypt

Egypt is one of the developing countries. The production of electricity in Egypt is basically on petroleum, natural gas, hydro-power and wind energy. The objective of this work to prove the availability of sufficient wind potential in the wide area of deep south Egypt for the operation of wind turbines there. Nevertheless, it gives in general an approximate profile which is useful to the wind parks design for this area. The data used in the calculation are published and analyzed for the first time. The diagrams of the measured wind data for three meteorological stations over a period of two years (wind speed, frequency, direction), wind shear coefficient, the mean monthly and annual wind speed profile for every location are presented. Monthly Weibull parameters, standard deviation and coefficient of variation have been statistically discussed. A comparison of the rose diagrams shows that the wind speed is more persistent and blow over this region of Egypt in two main sectors N and NNW with long duration of frequencies from 67% to 87% over the year with an average wind speed in the range 6.8-7.9 m/s at the three stations. Evaluation of monthly wind energy density at 10 m height by two different methods was carried out. And the final diagram for every site shows no significant difference between them. The annual natural wind energies at 70 m A.G.L. lie between 333 and 377 W/m² for Dakhla South and Kharga stations, respectively, which is similar to the inland wind potential of Vindeby (Denmark) and some European countries. These results indicate that Kharga and Dakhla South locations are new explored sites for future wind power generation projects.     

The application of artificial neural networks to mapping of wind speed profile for energy application in Nigeria

Modelling and prediction of wind speed are essential prerequisites in the sitting and sizing of wind power applications. The profile of wind speed in Nigeria is modelled using artificial neural network (ANN). The ANN model consists of 3-layered, feed-forward, back-propagation network with different configurations, designed using the Neural Toolbox for MATLAB. The monthly mean daily wind speed data monitored at 10 m above ground level for a period of 20 years (1983–2003) for 28 ground stations operated by the Nigeria Meteorological Services (NIMET) were used as training (18 stations) and testing (10 stations) dataset. The geographical parameters (latitude, longitude and altitude) and the month of the year were used as input data, while the monthly mean wind speed was used as the output of the network. The optimum network architecture with minimum Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 8.9% and correlation coefficient (r) between the predicted and the measured wind speed values of 0.9380 was obtained. The predicted monthly wind speed ranged from 0.9–13.1 m/s with an annual mean of 4.7 m/s. The model predicted wind speed values are given in the form of monthly maps, which can be easily used for assessment of wind energy potential for different locations within Nigeria.     

Energy assessment of the first wind farm section of Sidi Daoud, Tunisia

Tunisia is one of the Mediterranean countries having windy enough areas, in particular along the coasts. During the past years, Tunisia has embarked upon wind energy programs. The first wind farm in Tunisia was brought into service in January 2000 in the region of Sidi Daoud: it is the first section of the farm that consists of 32 aerogenerators (Made AE-32) of 10.56 MW capacity.In the present study, the wind energy potential of the Sidi Daoud site is statistically analyzed based on 5-year measured hourly time-series wind-speed data (2000–2004). Weibull and Rayleigh parameters at a height of 30 m have been estimated and used to describe the distribution and behavior of annual wind speeds and their frequencies at site.Also, the usable and recoverable energies have been calculated, which are used to determine the energetic and aerodynamic characteristics of aerogenerator Made AE-32 installed on site.The monthly and annual values of use factor (UF) of the first section of Sidi Daoud wind farm have been estimated.     

Investigation of wind characteristics and assessment of wind-generation potentiality in Uludağ-Bursa,Turkey

In this study, wind characteristic and wind energy potential of the Uluda? skinning which is located in the south Marmara region of Turkey were analyzed using the wind speed data collected during the period 2000–2006. The wind speed distribution curves of Uluda?-Bursa were obtained by using the Weibull and Rayleigh probability density functions. The average Weibull shape parameter k and scale parameter c were found as 1.78 and 7.97 m/s for the period 2000–2006. The yearly mean wind speed in Uluda?-Bursa was obtained as 7.08 m/s for period of 7 years. A technical and economic assessment has been made of electricity generation from four wind turbines having capacity of (600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 kW). The yearly energy output, capacity factor and the electrical energy cost of kW h produced by the three different turbines were calculated. The cost of each kW h produced using the chosen wind turbines in Uluda?-Bursa were found to between 0.255 and 0.306 $/kW h.