scholarly journals Application of GIS and Remote Sensing in Determining Trends in Wind Energy Potential and Its Uses for Designing Development Strategies in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Nurideen Abdulai ◽  
Leslie Donkor ◽  
Dennis Asare

This paper is purported to determine the wind energy potential of Ghana for 2010 and 2018 using GIS and RS technologies and how the result could be used to develop a country strategy that benefits the ordinary Ghanaian. In doing this, two different wind potential maps of Ghana were generated for 2010 and 2018 using data from Ghana meteorological Unit and Windfinder respectively. Moreover, the Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation of winds peed was used to generate the maps at different hub heights for 2010 and 2018. The results indicate that, the 2010 wind map showed wind speed is highest (8m/s) in the southernmost part of Ghana (i.e. Coastal part of Greater Accra and Volta Regions) at 10m high while the wind map of 2018 showed that wind speed is highest (9m/s) in the Upper East Region of Ghana at 10m high. As wind energy is untapped in Ghana, we advised that Government should further explore the results for the Upper East Region in ascertaining that it was not influenced by Trade winds and apply to different sectors of the economy through appropriate institutional regulations. The wind energy in Northern Ghana should be dedicated to mechanized agriculture, augmenting electricity tariffs for the poor in those areas and extending electricity to rural communities that do not have access to the national grid under the rural electrification project. Meanwhile, the wind energy generated from the southern part of Ghana should be dedicated mostly to commercial and industrial activities. Keywords: Wind Energy Potential, mechanized agriculture, industrial application, GIS, RS

2015 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
pp. 621-626
Author(s):  
R. Shamsipour ◽  
M. Fadaeenejad ◽  
M.A.M. Radzi

In this study, wind energy potential in three different stations in Malaysia in period of 5 years is analyzed. Base on Weibull distribution parameters, the mean wind speed, wind power density and wind energy density is estimated for each defined location. Although there are many works about wind potential in Malaysia, however a few of them have been provided a comprehensive study about wind power in different places in Malaysia. According to the findings, the annual mean wind speeds indicates that the highest wind speed variation is about 2 m/s and is belonged to the Subang station and the highest wind speed is 3.5 m/s in in Kudat. It is also found that the maximum wind power densities among these three sites are 22 W/m2, 24 W/m2 and 22 W/m2 in Kudat station in January, February and September respectively. The results of the study show that as the second parameter for Weibull model, the highest wind energy density has been 190 kWh/m2 per year in Kudat and the lowest one has been about 60 kWh/m2 in Kuching.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxing Yu ◽  
Yiqin Fu ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Shibo Wu ◽  
Yuanda Wu ◽  
...  

Wind energy, one of the most sustainable renewable energy sources, has been extensively developed worldwide. However, owing to the strong regional and seasonal differences, it is necessary to first evaluate wind energy resources in detail. In this study, the offshore wind characteristics and wind energy potential of Bohai Bay (38.7° N, 118.7° E), China, were statistically analyzed using two-year offshore wind data with a time interval of one second. Furthermore, Nakagami and Rician distributions were used for wind energy resource assessment. The results show that the main wind direction in Bohai Bay is from the east (−15°–45°), with a speed below 12 m/s, mainly ranging from 4 to 8 m/s. The main wind speed ranges in April and October are higher than those in August and December. The night wind speed is generally higher than that in the daytime. The Nakagami and Rician distributions performed reasonably in calculating the wind speed distributions and potential assessments. However, Nakagami distribution provided better wind resource assessment in this region. The wind potential assessment results suggest that Bohai Bay could be considered as a wind class I region, with east as the dominant wind direction.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 559-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa de F. Grah ◽  
Isaac de M. Ponciano ◽  
Tarlei A. Botrel

Wind power has gained space in Brazil's energy matrix, being a clean source and inexhaustible. Therefore, it becomes important to characterize the wind potential of a given location, for future applications. The main objective of the present study was to estimate the wind energy potential in Piracicaba, SP, Brazil. The wind speed data were collected by an anemometer installed at the Meteorological Station Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, Piracicaba-SP. The wind speed variability was represented by the Weibull frequency distribution, a probability density function of two parameters (k and c). The parameters k and c were used to correlate the Gamma function with the annual average wind speed, the variance and power mean density. A wind profile was made to evaluate the behavior of historical average speeds at higher altitudes measured by anemometer, to estimate the gain in power density. The values of k for all heights were close to 1 which corresponds to a wind regime highly variable, and c values were also low representing a low average speed of the location. The location was characterized as being unfavorable for the application of wind turbines for power generation.


Author(s):  
Yusuf Alper Kaplan

In this study, the compatibility of the real wind energy potential to the estimated wind energy potential by Weibull Distribution Function (WDF) of a region with low average wind speed potential was examined. The main purpose of this study is to examine the performance of six different methods used to find the coefficients of the WDF and to determine the best performing method for selected region. In this study seven-year hourly wind speed data obtained from the general directorate of meteorology of this region was used. The root mean square error (RMSE) statistical indicator was used to compare the efficiency of all used methods. Another main purpose of this study is to observe the how the performance of the used methods changes over the years. The obtained results showed that the performances of the used methods showed slight changes over the years, but when evaluated in general, it was observed that all method showed acceptable performance. Based on the obtained results, when the seven-year data is evaluated in this selected region, it can be said that the MM method shows the best performance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
Angel Terziev ◽  
Ivan Antonov ◽  
Rositsa Velichkova

Abstract Increasing the share of renewable energy sources is one of the core policies of the European Union. This is because of the fact that this energy is essential in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and securing energy supplies. Currently, the share of wind energy from all renewable energy sources is relatively low. The choice of location for a certain wind farm installation strongly depends on the wind potential. Therefore the accurate assessment of wind potential is extremely important. In the present paper an analysis is made on the impact of significant possible parameters on the determination of wind energy potential for relatively large areas. In the analysis the type of measurements (short- and long-term on-site measurements), the type of instrumentation and the terrain roughness factor are considered. The study on the impact of turbulence on the wind flow distribution over complex terrain is presented, and it is based on the real on-site data collected by the meteorological tall towers installed in the northern part of Bulgaria. By means of CFD based software a wind map is developed for relatively large areas. Different turbulent models in numerical calculations were tested and recommendations for the usage of the specific models in flows modeling over complex terrains are presented. The role of each parameter in wind map development is made. Different approaches for determination of wind energy potential based on the preliminary developed wind map are presented.


Author(s):  
V. P. Evstigneev ◽  
◽  
N. A. Lemeshko ◽  
V. A. Naumova ◽  
M. P. Evstigneev ◽  
...  

The paper deals with assessing an impact of wind climate change on the wind energy potential of the Azov and Black Sea coast region. A lower estimate of operating time for wind power installation and a potential annual energy output for the region are given for the case of Vestas V117-4.2MW. Calculation has been performed of a long-term mean wind speed for two adjacent climatic periods (1954–1983 and 1984–2013) based on data from meteorological stations of the Black and Azov Sea region. The results show a decrease in wind speed at all meteorological stations except for Novorossiysk. The wind climate change is confirmed by comparing two adjoined 30-year periods and by estimating linear trends of the mean annual wind speed for the period 1954–2013, which are negative and significant for almost all meteorological stations in the region (α = 1 %). The trend values were estimated by the nonparametric method of robust linear smoothing using the Theil – Sen function. In the present study, the uncertainty of wind energy resource induced by a gradual wind climate change is estimated for perspective planning of this branch of energy sector. Despite the observed trends in the wind regime, average wind speeds in the Azov and Black Sea region are sufficient for planning the location of wind power plants.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-15
Author(s):  
Kamaruzzaman Sopian ◽  
Tamer Khatib

 In this paper, the wind energy potential in Malaysia is examined by analyzing hourly wind speed data for nine coastal sites namely Bintulu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching, Kudat, Mersing, Sandakan, Tawau and Pulau Langkawi. The monthly averages of wind speed and wind energy are calculated. Moreover, the wind speed distribution histogram is constructed for these sites. The results showed that the average wind speed for these sites is in the range of (1.8-2.9) m/s while the annual energy of the wind hitting a wind turbine with a 1 m2 swept area is in the range of (15.4-25.2) kWh/m2.annum. This paper provides a data bank for wind energy for Malaysia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shafiqur Rehman ◽  
Narayanan Natarajan ◽  
Mangottiri Vasudevan ◽  
Luai M Alhems

Wind energy is one of the abundant, cheap and fast-growing renewable energy sources whose intensive extraction potential is still in immature stage in India. This study aims at the determination and evaluation of wind energy potential of three cities located at different elevations in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The historical records of wind speed, direction, temperature and pressure were collected for three South Indian cities, namely Chennai, Erode and Coimbatore over a period of 38 years (1980-2017). The mean wind power density was observed to be highest at Chennai (129 W/m2) and lowest at Erode (76 W/m2) and the corresponding mean energy content was highest for Chennai (1129 kWh/m2/year) and lowest at Erode (666 kWh/m2/year). Considering the events of high energy-carrying winds at Chennai, Erode and Coimbatore, maximum wind power density were estimated to be 185 W/m2, 190 W/m2 and 234 W/m2, respectively. The annual average net energy yield and annual average net capacity factor were selected as the representative parameters for expressing strategic wind energy potential at geographically distinct locations having significant variation in wind speed distribution. Based on the analysis, Chennai is found to be the most suitable site for wind energy production followed by Coimbatore and Erode.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teklebrhan Negash ◽  
Erik Möllerström ◽  
Fredric Ottermo

This paper presents the wind energy potential and wind characteristics for 25 wind sites in Eritrea, based on wind data from the years 2000–2005. The studied sites are distributed all over Eritrea, but can roughly be divided into three regions: coastal region, western lowlands, and central highlands. The coastal region sites have the highest potential for wind power. An uncertainty, due to extrapolating the wind speed from the 10-m measurements, should be noted. The year to year variations are typically small and, for the sites deemed as suitable for wind power, the seasonal variations are most prominent in the coastal region with a peak during the period November–March. Moreover, Weibull parameters, prevailing wind direction, and wind power density recalculated for 100 m above ground are presented for all 25 sites. Comparing the results to values from the web-based, large-scale dataset, the Global Wind Atlas (GWA), both mean wind speed and wind power density are typically higher for the measurements. The difference is especially large for the more complex-terrain central highland sites where GWA results are also likely to be more uncertain. The result of this study can be used to make preliminary assessments on possible power production potential at the given sites.


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