Abstract
Wind power is not only pollution free and renewable but is becoming more economical with technology development. The countries around the Arabian Gulf region are investing for wind powers both the land and in their marine space. A detailed study on wind power resource in the Arabian Gulf is not available. This paper is on the wind energy resource availability over Arabian Gulf waters, covering 2300 grid points. The data available with Coastal Information System data base at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait, from 1979 to 2015 is used. The probability density and power density were derived from these data source. Weibull probability density function has been fitted to the wind speed data and the wind power density was evaluated. The study is carried out at 10 m, 30 m and 50 m elevations. The central location of the Arabian Gulf has higher annual average wind speed, ranging from 6 to 8 m/s at 10 m elevation, 7 to 8 m/s at 30 m elevation and 8 to 9 m/s at 50 m elevation. The scale parameter “c” at central location of Arabian Gulf is found to range from 6 - 8 m/s for 10 m elevation, 7 - 8 m/s for 30 m elevation and 8 - 9 m/s for 50 m above sea level. The Weibull shape parameter k varies from 2.5 to 3 at the north and central of the Arabian Gulf. The annual mean wind power density over Arabian Gulf Waters is the highest in the central region of the Gulf. The power density at 10 m, 30 m and 50 m hub height varies between 200 to 300 w/m2, 200 to 300 w/m2 and more than 300 w/m2 respectively. It is attractive to install large scale wind power generation at the central region of the Arabian Gulf and at elevations of 30 m or 50 m, since this region lies in Class 2 category of the Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States. The wind power density is attractive especially in summer season around the central region location in Arabian Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar), since high rate of power is used for air conditioning systems in summer.
Highlights
Arabian Gulf is one of the promising seas in the Middle East and is located in between Saudi Arabia on its west and Iran on its east (Figure 1)
The southern area of Arabian Gulf has low wind speed ranging from 2.5 - 3.0 m/s for 10 m elevation, 3 - 4 m/s for 30 m elevation and 4 - 4.5 m/s for 50 m elevation
It is clear that the central area of the Arabian Gulf is attractive for extracting wind energy
Summary
Arabian Gulf is one of the promising seas in the Middle East and is located in between Saudi Arabia on its west and Iran on its east (Figure 1). The cost of 1 kWh from wind electricity in the GCC countries may be from US ¢10 (large turbine ≈ 2 MW at 80 m height with good wind speed) to US ¢ 15 (for large turbine ≈ 2 MW at 80 m height with modest wind speed) while the cost of kWh from grid connected Wind farm plant (20 MW) —with a cost of USD 38.6 million and energy—is US ¢ 6.7/kWh to US ¢ 8.8/kWh, depending on the location of wind farm This makes it very challengeable for investor, government (Feed-in-Tariff) and citizens because each citizen in GCC countries pays only US cent 1 for each kWh, for consumption less than 3000 kWh, or even nothing for citizens-like in Qatar. The wind speed at this location is found to be more than 3.5 m/s for 69% of the time in a year
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