Assessment of wind energy potential in the southeastern province of Iran

ABSTRACT

In recent years, electricity generation by employing wind turbines has been increased significantly due to technology advancement and environmental concern. In the present study, meteorological data have been employed to compute the Weibull distribution function as well as wind power and energy density. The wind data measured at 10-min intervals at three heights of 10, 30, and 40 m above the ground. Monthly, seasonal, and annual wind speed variations are analyzed, and the performance of the selected wind turbines is evaluated. The results show that the highest wind power potential occurs in July at Lotak and in August at Shandol. The estimated annual power and energy densities demonstrated that both investigated sites are suitable for large-scale power generation. Finally, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is employed to evaluate the economic feasibility of electricity generation from wind power energy. It was demonstrated that the minimum cost of energy achieved by Dongfang DF100-2500 model with LCOE of 0.0830 and 0.0786 USD/kWh in Lotak and Shandol, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Renewable energy
• Weibull distribution
• wind energy
• wind speed