Assessment of solar and wind energy resources in Ethiopia. II. Wind energy

Abstract

Using wind data from 21 meteorological stations with hourly or 3-hourly readings and 60 stations with monthly means, together with data from previous studies of neighbouring countries, a series of analyses were undertaken to illustrate the general availability of wind energy across Ethiopia. In order to calculate the wind energy density, firstly these 21 stations, along with 12 stations from neighbouring countries with hourly readings, were used to calculate the Weibull parameters, c and k. The Weibull distribution is shown to be a good approximation for the observed values in a majority of cases. Isopleths of the k values were then plotted, and from this the remaining 60 stations with monthly readings were then assigned k values. The wind energy density for each station was then calculated. Although the quantity of wind data is somewhat lacking, the results show that there is a potential for wind energy utilisation in some regions of Ethiopia.