Wind speed Weibull distribution and wind energy potential of Chandpur, Bangladesh

Abstract

Weibull distribution goes particularly well with wind speed data and is necessary to assess wind energy harnessing potential at a site. For the best estimation of the statistical distribution parameters at Chandpur (23.21116° N; 90.64237° E), located at the southern part of Bangladesh, six models: graphical method, method of moments, power density method, Justus method, Lysen method and maximum likelihood method have been analyzed for 18.8 m, 40.2 m and 59.9 m above ground level (AGL) using measured wind speed data for 2014-2017. Out of the six models, Justus method has showed the best result for estimation of Weibull parameters at all heights AGL with average RMSE of 0.0082 and R2 of 0.9650. Further more to evaluate the wind energy potential at modern wind turbine hub height of 100 m, firstly the wind shear exponent at the site (the average value is 0.37 considering the 10 m elevation of the site above sea level) is estimated from the wind data of 3 heights; secondly average wind speed (4.88 m/s), wind power density (108.8 Wm-2), Weibull distribution parameters (shape factor 2.29 and scale factor 5.33 m/s) and wind turbine power curve related wind speeds (cut in 2.28 m/s, rated 9.33 m/s and cut out 21.03 m/s)have been extrapolated at the hub height. The average wind speed and wind power density values show that the class of the site is 1 in the worldwide accepted wind power classification, based on long term practical wind farm installation experiences; the low cut in speed (<3 m/s) shows that suitable wind turbines for the site are commercially unavailable for the site and turbines with 3 m/s cut in speed have average annual capacity factor of 16.62 %, less than the commercially viable capacity factor >25 %. The wind power class (< class 3) and capacity factor (<25 %) strictly reveals that Chandpur is not suitable for wind energy exploration in near future until a high technical improvement of wind turbines and reduction of relevant costs. DUJASE Vol. 6 (2) 99-108, 2021 (July)