Application of differential evolution for wind speed distribution parameters estimation

Abstract

Weibull distribution is an extensively used statistical distribution for analyzing wind speed and determining energy potential studies. Estimation of the wind speed distribution parameter is essential as it significantly affects the success of Weibull distribution application to wind energy. Various estimation methods viz. graphical method, moment method (MM), maximum likelihood method (ML), modified maximum likelihood method, and energy pattern factor method or power density method have been presented in various reported research studies for accurate estimation of distribution parameters. ML is the most preferred approach to study the parameter estimation. ML works on the principle of forming a likelihood function and maximizing the function for parameter estimation. ML generally uses the numerical based iterative method, such as Newton–Raphson. However, the iterative methods proposed in the literature are generally computationally intensive. In this paper, an efficient technique utilizing differential evolution (DE) algorithm to enhance the estimation accuracy of maximum likelihood estimation has been presented. The [Formula: see text] of GA-Weibull, SA-Weibull, and DE-Weibull is 0.958, 0.953, and 0.973 respectively, and value of RMSE of DE-Weibull 0.0083, GA-Weibull (0.0104), and SA-Weibull (0.0110), for the yearly wind speed data are obtained. The lowest root mean square error and larger regression value for both monthly and yearly wind speed data indicate that the DE-Weibull distribution has the best goodness of fit and advocate the DE algorithm for the parameter estimation.