Assessment of Wind Energy Potential for Selecting Small-Scale Wind Turbines in Low Wind Locations in Libya: A Comparative Study

In this paper, ten distribution functions are used to analyze the characteristics of wind speed in three selected regions (Tripoli, Nault, and Esspeea) in Libya. The monthly wind speed data are used and measured at 10m height. The results indicated that the mean monthly wind speeds in the studied regions are within the range of 2.121 m/s to 4.349 m/s at 10m height. Annual distribution parameters are calculated for each distribution using the Maximum likelihood method. Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) statistic is determined to evaluate the distribution suitability to fit the actual wind speed data. In addition, the wind power density in each region is calculated. The results showed that Nault has the highest mean actual wind power (50.3W/m2) compared with Tripoli (30.972W/m2) and Esspeea (5.844W/m2). Moreover, since the hub height of many wind turbines is higher than the measurement height, the distribution parameters and wind power density are estimated at various heights using power law method. The result demonstrated that small-scale wind turbines can be exploited by the wind in different regions. Consequently, the present value cost method (PVC) is used to evaluate the energy cost of electricity using various wind turbine models. Economically, the lowest value of electricity cost was obtained from Finn Wind Tuule C 200 with a value of 0.001427 $/kW for Tripoli, 0.0010 $/kW for Nault and 0.013194$/kW for Esspeea.

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