Moroccan wind farm potential feasibility. Case study

Abstract The subject of this paper is the elaboration of a methodology to study the technical feasibility of a wind farm potential. The implementation of this methodology allows a comparison between the wind resources of two different sites in Morocco. One site is located in the region of Essaouira, whereas the other one is located in the region of Safi. The comparison is based on real wind data collected from two masts at the heights of 30, 50, and 60 m. Each of the masts is installed at one of the mentioned potential sites over a fixed time period, lasting fifteen months for the first site, and eight months for the second one. The aim is the determination of the most applicable site presenting a good potential for a statistical study in order to predict long-term wind behaviors. Thus, the geographical situation study of the chosen site including topography, roughness and obstacles, is carried out. Furthermore, the wind resource using data, generated by the measuring masts, is evaluated. Finally, the areas which present great wind potential are located and the wind farm turbine locations are optimized by using the WAsP software.

[1]  Nikola Sucevic,et al.  Vertical wind speed profiles estimation recognizing atmospheric stability , 2011, 2011 10th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering.

[2]  N. Panwar,et al.  Role of renewable energy sources in environmental protection: A review , 2011 .

[3]  Xiaosong Hu,et al.  Energy efficiency analysis of a series plug-in hybrid electric bus with different energy management strategies and battery sizes , 2013 .

[4]  P. Drobinski,et al.  Is the Weibull distribution really suited for wind statistics modeling and wind power evaluation , 2012, 1211.3853.

[5]  Ayhan Albostan,et al.  An investigation on wind energy potential and small scale wind turbine performance at İncek region – Ankara, Turkey , 2015 .

[6]  Andrew J. Chipperfield,et al.  An evaluation of wind energy potential at Kati Bandar, Pakistan , 2010 .

[7]  Ouahiba Guerri,et al.  Investigation of wind power potential at Oran, northwest of Algeria , 2015 .

[8]  H. Saleh,et al.  Assessment of different methods used to estimate Weibull distribution parameters for wind speed in Zafarana wind farm, Suez Gulf, Egypt , 2012 .

[9]  Erik Lundtang Petersen,et al.  The European Wind Atlas , 1985 .

[10]  H. S. Bagiorgas,et al.  Weibull Parameters Estimation Using Four Different Methods and Most Energy-Carrying Wind Speed Analysis , 2011 .

[11]  S. H. Pishgar-Komleh,et al.  Wind speed and power density analysis based on Weibull and Rayleigh distributions (a case study: Firouzkooh county of Iran) , 2015 .

[12]  Joseph P. Hennessey.  Some Aspects of Wind Power Statistics , 1977 .

[13]  Xiaozhong Liao,et al.  Evaluation of wind power production prospective and Weibull parameter estimation methods for Babaurband, Sindh Pakistan , 2014 .

[14]  Achille Messac,et al.  A comprehensive measure of the energy resource: Wind power potential (WPP) , 2014 .

[15]  J. A. Carta,et al.  A review of measure-correlate-predict (MCP) methods used to estimate long-term wind characteristics at a target site , 2013 .

[16]  A. Ouammi,et al.  Monthly and seasonal assessment of wind energy characteristics at four monitored locations in Liguria region (Italy) , 2010 .

[17]  Ali Mostafaeipour,et al.  Feasibility study of harnessing wind energy for turbine installation in province of Yazd in Iran , 2010 .

[18]  John S. Irwin,et al.  A theoretical variation of the wind profile power-law exponent as a function of surface roughness and stability , 1979 .

[19]  Jørgen Højstrup,et al.  Evaluation of the wind-resource estimation program WAsP for offshore applications , 2001 .

[20]  Qiusheng Li,et al.  Statistical analysis of wind characteristics and wind energy potential in Hong Kong , 2015 .

[21]  A. Tizpar,et al.  Wind resource assessment and wind power potential of Mil-E Nader region in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran – Part 1: Annual energy estimation , 2014 .

[22]  R. Velo,et al.  Wind speed estimation using multilayer perceptron , 2014 .

[23]  Laerte de Araujo Lima,et al.  Wind energy assessment and wind farm simulation in Triunfo – Pernambuco, Brazil , 2010 .

[24]  Michael F. Goodchild.  Geographic Information Systems , 2001 .

[25]  N. Ghellai,et al.  Temporal assessment of wind energy resource at four locations in Algerian Sahara , 2013 .

[26]  A. Gastli,et al.  Review of the use of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models for wind energy assessment , 2010 .