Techno-Economic Assessment of Development of Wind Farms at a Potential Location in Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia - A Step towards Alternative Energy for Sustainable Future

The present study has investigated the techno-economic feasibility to develop 15 MW wind-energy-farm at Qaisumah, Eastern-Province, Saudi-Arabia (SA) based on analysis of long-term wind-speed data. Qaisumah is a potential wind-energy resource. The analyzed data shows that monthly-average-wind-speed (MAWS) of Qaisumah (28^º20' N, 46º07' E) lies in between 3.5 and 4.6m/s at height of 10m. The simulations of wind-farms encompass combinations of 600kW commercial wind-machinery (CWMs, 50m hub-height). Feasibility assessment was performed by employing HOMER-Energy's (NREL's) HOMER-software. The study results presented include monthly wind-speed changes, FD-profiles (frequency-distribution-profiles) of wind-speed, month-wise and annual quantity of generated-energy from the 15MW wind-farm (50m hub), cost of generation-of-energy (COE, US$-per-kWh), capacity-factor (percent), etc. The FD-profiles point out that wind-speeds are below 3m/s for about 43 percent of time during a year. This means commercial wind-electric-conversion-systems (WECS) would produce energy for approximately 57% of time during a year. About 23590 MWh of energy is produced from 15MW-WECS (with 50m hub-level) on annual-basis. The COE by utilizing 600kW (50m hub-level) is approximately 0.0487 US$-per-kWh. With installation of 15MW WECS, approximately 2026 tons of carbon emissions can be reduced annually. Various other factors (e.g. height-of-hub, capacity factor, etc.) for WECS-installation have also been taken into consideration.