Abstract
This paper presents the wind energy potential and wind characteristics for 25 wind sites in Eritrea, based on wind data from the years 2000–2005. The studied sites are distributed all over Eritrea, but can roughly be divided into three regions: coastal region, western lowlands, and central highlands. The coastal region sites have the highest potential for wind power. An uncertainty, due to extrapolating the wind speed from the 10-m measurements, should be noted. The year to year variations are typically small and, for the sites deemed as suitable for wind power, the seasonal variations are most prominent in the coastal region with a peak during the period November–March. Moreover, Weibull parameters, prevailing wind direction, and wind power density recalculated for 100 m above ground are presented for all 25 sites. Comparing the results to values from the web-based, large-scale dataset, the Global Wind Atlas (GWA), both mean wind speed and wind power density are typically higher for the measurements. The difference is especially large for the more complex-terrain central highland sites where GWA results are also likely to be more uncertain. The result of this study can be used to make preliminary assessments on possible power production potential at the given sites.
Highlights
Unlike Europe and North America, which have a long history of wind energy [1,2,3], Africa does not have significant amounts of wind power, and as of 2018, it makes up less than 1% of the total global wind power capacity, with installations mainly in South Africa and Egypt [4]
Wind energy installations in Eritrea are limited to one 750-kW wind farm, and there are no current plans for large-scale implementations [6]
The southern Red Sea Coast in current Eritrea was concluded as having the highest wind energy potential in the region
Summary
Unlike Europe and North America, which have a long history of wind energy [1,2,3], Africa does not have significant amounts of wind power, and as of 2018, it makes up less than 1% of the total global wind power capacity, with installations mainly in South Africa and Egypt [4]. The southern Red Sea Coast in current Eritrea was concluded as having the highest wind energy potential in the region. The study is based on several wind data sources, the newest from the mid-1990s, and focuses on a handful sites in the Red Sea Coast and the central highlands. From 2007, in [14], coarse wind resources for different African countries are presented without regional results in the case of Eritrea. The wind energy resource of Eritrea is the focus of this work, which is based on wind data, mainly for the year 2000 (the years 2000–2005 for the sites deemed as most potential), measured for 25 different sites as part of the Wind and Solar Monitoring Network (WSMN) established in 1999. The seasonal variation and other wind attributes presented for the different sites can be used to further analyze how wind energy can be integrated in the power system and combined with other intermittent energy sources, for example, solar energy
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