Potential of Establishment of Wind Farms in Western Province of Saudi Arabia

In the present study, the economic feasibility of development of 15 MW wind power plant (wind farm) at Taif, Western Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A) has been investigated by analyzing long-t erm wind speed data. Western province has relatively better wind energy resources. Data analysis indicates that monthly average wind speeds of Taif (21 fl 29' N, 40 fl 32' E ) range from 3.1 to 4.8 m/s at 10 m heigh t. The wind farms simulated consist of different combinations of 6 00 kW commercial wind machines (50 m hub -height). NREL’s (HOMER Energy’s) HOMER software has been employed to perform the techno-economic assessment. The study presents monthly variations of wind speed, cumulative frequency distribution (CFD) profiles of wind speed, monthly and yearly amount of energy generated from the 15 MW wind farm (50 m hub-height), cost of generating energy (COE, $/kWh), capacity factor (%), etc. The CFD indicates that the wind speeds are less than 3 m/s for 46% of the time during the year. This implies that wind electric conversion systems (WECS) will not produce energy for about 46% of the time during the year. The annual energy produced by 15 MW wind farm (50 m hub height) has been found to be 19939 MWh. The cost of wind -based electricity by using 600 kW (50m hub-height) commercial WECS has been found to be 0.0576 US$/kWh. With the development of 15 MW wind farm, about 453 tons/year of carbon emissions can be avoided entering into the local atmospheric. The paper also attempts to address various aspects (such as: effect of hub -height, etc.) of wind farm establishment © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer -review under responsibility of the Research