A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF WIND SPEED DATA AND AN ASSESSMENT OF WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL IN TAIZ-YEMEN

Yemen possesses a very good potential of renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy. Wind energy is an alternative clean energy source compared to fossil fuel, which pollute the lower layer of the atmosphere. In this study, statistical methods are used to analyze the wind speed data of Taiz in the southwest of Yemen. Wind speed is the most important parameter in the design and study of wind energy conversion systems. The wind speed data were obtained from the National Water Resources Information Center in Taiz (TaizNWRIC) over a four year period, 1999 to 2002. In the present study, the wind energy potential of the location is statistically analyzed based on wind speed data, measured over a period of four years. The probability distributions are derived from the wind data and their distributional parameters are identified. Two probability density functions are fitted to the measured probability distributions on a yearly basis. The wind energy potential of the location is studied based on the Weibull and the Rayleigh models. Nomenclature: Α Area (m) c Weibull scale parameter or factor (m/s) ) (v F Cumulative distribution function ) (v f Probability of observing wind speed h Height (m) k Weibull shape parameter or factor N Number of observations n Number of constants P Power of wind per unit area (W/m) Ρ ( ) Mean power density v R Correlation coefficient RMSE Root mean square error v Wind speed (m/s) m v Mean wind speed (m/s) i x I measured value i y I th calculated value Greek symbols: ρ Air density (kg/m) σ Standard deviation Γ ( ) Gamma function of ( )