Wind Energy Potential for Providing Small Wind Energy Systems to Generate Electricity in Residential and Agricultural Areas in Southeastern Iran

Abstract

An extensive parts of Iran, especially east and south-east region, have got a suitable potential in generating and using new energies, including wind energy. Studies show that just in 26 windy regions of Iran there is a potential for generating a 6500 MegaWatt electricity. It is something about 1/6 capacity of power stations in Iran. Continuous winds like Sistan 120 Days Winds and other local winds have made this region suitable for using wind energy. The data related to the average of wind speed in selected stations (Sistan and South Khorasan Province) have been converted from Knot scale to Kilometer per hour. Then, the classification of wind speed has been extracted from American Atlas and has been used for classifying the wind speed in that area. Examination of wind potentials in stations of Zabol, Zahedan, Khoor,Birjand,Qayen and Nehbandan indicated that stations of Zabol, Khoor and Nehbandan have got the highest continuity of wind which is suitable for generating energy. Because of the dispersion of population and high cost of transmitting electricity network and some limitations in generating electricity in future, small and low cost systems of wind have been suggested for the residential and agricultural region of this part of Iran.