Feasibility study of distributed wind energy generation in Jumla Nepal

Abstract

Renewable energy production needs serious attention in highly traditional, inefficient, and energy-dependent countries like Nepal. Moreover, the option of an effective renewable energy technology that is economically feasible and environmentally acceptable is a topic of interest due to the availability of various types of renewable energy sources in Nepal. Among other renewable energy sources like micro hydro, solar, biogas etc, very few studies had been conducted on wind energy sources in Nepal and those few studies also focuses mostly on large scale wind farming. So, this study analyzes the suitability of distributed wind energy production in Tila village of Jumla district in the western part of Nepal. Five-year (2015-2019) wind speed data were examined to obtain wind power density and energy density. Two-parameter Weibull probability density function was used to evaluate these two quantities. The annual Weibull parameters k and c of 1.73 and 4.21 m/s were obtained to calculate 43.79 W/m2 power density and 378.37 kWh/m2 energy density. This study also provides the economic evaluation of a 100 kW distributed wind energy system, and the technical and economic aspects of the proposed system are compared with the corresponding characteristics of the existing renewable energy systems, i.e., micro hydropower and solar power. The study shows that when there is not enough sunlight for the solar PV system and not enough water flow coupled with maintenance problems in the micro hydropower system, the distributed wind energy system may function as a substitute system.

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“…The amount of DoF (degree of freedom) required to fully master the processing operation and how long it takes to complete the processing operation are both strongly influenced by the number of input and output nodes. As the amount of hidden nodes grows, the system may occasionally become overly well-fitted [35]. The ANN execution is examined when training is complete.…”

An AHP Based Approach for Evaluating Renewable Energy Source for Investment Decision

“…Choosing a suitable renewable energy technology that is economically feasible and environmentally acceptable is a topic of interest among researchers working in this field because of the availability of different kinds of renewable energy sources in the region [2]. Researchers have argued that renewable energy technologies such as micro and mini hydropower, solar, and wind are not only technically feasible and financially viable solutions but also suitable energy sources for rural and remote areas in developing countries like Nepal [7].…”

“…But it does not make use of decision-making tool nor explores broadly in the identification of right energy sources. The paper is focused on exploring wind energy generation and it briefly states which all energy sources meets the demand of Jumla [2]. The technical as well as economic aspects are the main criteria upon which other sub-criteria are laid out.…”

“…According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data provided in 2016, the wind energy system has a capacity factor of 34.7% whereas the hydropower system has 38%. The solar PV system has a capacity factor of 10-20 % [2].…”

“…But now this number has decreased to 1.3 million. Nevertheless, there are still roughly 4.5% population in Nepal without electricity [2]. Though the country has scaled up its transmission line and production capacity with huge hydropower under construction, the remaining 4.5% are yet to get connected which will still take more than a decade time [3].…”