COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF NUMERICAL TECHNIQUES FOR WEIBULL PARAMETERS’ ESTIMATION AND THE PERFORMANCE OF WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The wind speed of a location is a critical parameter for analyzing wind energy conversion systems. Background knowledge has revealed that the two-parameter Weibull distribution is commonly used for fitting wind speed data because of its simplicity, flexibility and suitability. This research study examines wind speed data from five locations in Nigeria (Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Abuja and Akure). It employs five numerical techniques, namely the maximum likelihood method, method of moment, power density method, empirical method and the logarithmic moment method, to estimate the Weibull parameters based on the locations’ data. The goodness of fit test is used to determine which numerical method best fits the distribution. The paper also considers the techno-economic design of wind electricity of five 25 kW pitch-controlled wind turbines with dissimilar characteristics. The test result presents the method of moment and empirical method as the best methods for calculating the Weibull parameters. Results also show that wind turbine-3 has the least cost of energy and wind turbine-5 has the highest cost of energy.