Feasibility of development of wind farms in northern province of Saudi Arabia

In the present study, the economic feasibility of development of 15 MW wind power plant (wind farm) at Al-Jawf, Northern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A.) has been investigated by analyzing long-term wind speed data. Western and Northern provinces of K.S.A. have relatively better wind energy resources. The study indicates that monthly average wind speeds of Al-Jawf (29° 56' N, 40° 12' E) vary from 3.3 to 4.4 m/s at 10 m height. The wind farms simulated consist of different combinations of 600 kW commercial wind machines (50 m hub-height). NREL’s (HOMER Energy’s) HOMER software has been employed to perform the techno-economic assessment. The study presents monthly variations of wind speed, cumulative frequency distribution (CFD) profiles of wind speed, monthly and yearly amount of energy generated from the 15 MW wind farm (50 m hub-height), cost of generating energy (COE, $/kWh), capacity factor (%), etc. The CFD indicates that the wind speeds are less than 3 m/s for 47% of the time during the year at Al-Jawf. This implies that wind electric conversion systems (WECS) will not produce energy for about 47% of the time during the year. The annual energy produced by 15 MW wind farm (50 m hub-height) has been found to be 20497 MWh. The cost of wind-based electricity by using 600 kW (50m hub-height) commercial WECS has been found to be 0.0561 US$/kWh. With the development of 15 MW wind farm, about 483 tons/year of carbon emissions can be avoided entering into the local atmospheric. The paper also shows effect of hub-height in wind farm development.