Assessment of Wind Speed and Power Density Using Weibull and Rayleigh Distributions at Turbat, Balochistan, Pakistan

Abstract

The meager economic situation, indefinite energy crisis, industrial modernization, and hazardous contamination impulse the empiricist to transcend the attention on renewable energy resources in Pakistan. One of the most rapidly growing renewable energy sources is wind energy. The main goal of this research work is to examine the wind characteristics and wind potential at the site of Turbat, Balochistan, Pakistan. For this purpose, the measured hourly time series data was collected from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (CPDC, Karachi) for 21 months (Jan 2012 – Sep 2013). After evaluating the monthly average wind speed (> 4 m/s), the average value of most probable wind speed (3.83 m/s), the average value of wind speed carrying maximum energy (7.732 m/s), and the standard deviation of the data (1.699 – 3.306), the results are used to statistically evaluate the data by Weibull and Rayleigh distributions for the selected site. The monthly average value of wind power and energy densities of the selected site is 140.145 W/m2 and 101.775 kWh/m2, respectively. A comparison was made between the mean power potential of the site and the power potential assessed using the Weibull and Rayleigh distributions. It was revealed that the Weibull distribution depicted the data more accurately. This statement is further enriched by the assessment of the performance of both distributions with the RMSE, χ2, and R2 tests