Technical analysis of wind energy potentials using a modified Weibull and Raleigh distribution model parameters approach in the Gambia

Abstract

Wind energy has gained prominence over the past few decades because of its environment-friendly nature and abundant availability. However, the exploration of wind energy requires adequate knowledge of the wind distribution parameters before installing the wind turbine. This study assessed the potential of harvesting wind energy at two Gambian locations by fitting the best model comparing Weibull and Raleigh Distributions. A novel approach combining the energy pattern factor and standard deviation methods in estimating the distribution parameters of the characteristics of wind in the Gambian locations of Yundum and Basse has been presented and statistically analyzed using the Weibull and Raleigh distribution functions. The results showed that the shape parameters ranged from 4.88 to 6.98 and 3.87–6.15 for Yundum and Basse locations, the Weibull scale parameter ranged from 6.60 to 10.58 m/s and 4.51–8.69 m/s for Yundum and Basse while the calculated wind power densities ranged from 139 to 718 W/m2 and 46–390 W/m2 for Yundum and Basse respectively. These results clearly show a high potential for generating electricity with wind in the study areas. The statistical analysis revealed that the Weibull models perform better at Yundum in terms of RMSD = 0.33, NSCOE=0.45,MAE=0.29 and χ2= 1.57 while the Raleigh distribution gives a better fit for Basse in terms of R2=0.88, and MAE=0.39 only making it more suitable for calculating the wind power potentials.