Wind resource assessment and economics of electric generation at four locations in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Abstract

Abstract The most attractive source of clean energy is the wind power; it is also a potentially valuable source of sustainable energy in the world in general and in Egypt in particular. Egypt's energy resources are limited in oil and petroleum products and it has large reserves of natural gas, the current projects are very massive. Nowadays, the increase in demand of energy of the country is mainly due to rapid expansion of industrial projects and the economic growth, particularly, in Suez Canal area and Sinai Peninsula. This study presents a realistic approximation of wind as a promising renewable source for electricity production along the coastal southern regions in Sinai Peninsula. Where an integrated analysis was made of the wind characteristics plus accurate estimation of the wind power potential per month and per season at different heights 10–50 m AGL for the selected locations along Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba at northern Red Sea namely: Ras Seder, Abu Redis, El Tor and Nabq. The average wind speed was obtained annually to be 8.6, 6.3, 5.8 and 8.0 m/s at altitude 50 m, respectively. According to the applied method, accurate estimation of the wind power density was done. The results confirmed that the two sites Ras Seder and Nabq are absolutely the best, which have annually available wind energies over 314 and 249 kWh/m2 at 50 m, respectively. Consequently, they can be evaluated as an international regions for electric power generation by the inshore wind. The project of installing 580 MW class inshore wind farms at the four locations has been examined and that requires due attention from the policy makers and the foreign investors. The proposed wind projects will produce 2335 GWh of electricity per year which is more than the needs of the country. The generation cost per kWh at these locations varies from 1.84 to 4.22 US cent. This expected cost of electric generation by the wind is less than the local tariff of electricity which will be produced by other ways during the financial year 2017/2018 according to the announcement the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity. In addition, this venture will reduce domestic fossil fuel consumption in Egypt and can prevent thousands of tons of carbon emissions every year which entering into the local atmosphere.