Wind Energy Resources Estimation and Assessment For AL-Maqrun Town - Libya

Abstract

Fossil fuels (Natural gas, heavy and light oil) are considered the main sources for electricity generation in Libya. Libya’s electricity demand is growing at a rapid rate and the country will require significant additional capacity in the coming years due to the development of all sectors of life and the improvement of individuals’ life quality, without taking into account the rationalization of electricity consumption. The main reason for this is that Libya has a very high energy subsidy, especially the tariff set by the Libyan state for the price per kilowatt-hour for electricity sector. The heavily subsidized electricity price for household currently stands at (20 dirham’s/kilowatt-hour) compared to (100 dirham’s/kilowatt-hour), as the domestic price of fuel cost, and in return (450 dirham’s/kilowatt-hour) as the electricity cost of fuel in international prices. In order to reduce the deficit and the ongoing balancing in energy demand with the amount of generation of available capacity it is necessary to study all electrical systems for the future, the most important of which are wind energy and solar energy projects to meet a significant part of this demand, and to reduce, as much as possible, the carbon dioxide emissions. This paper deals with the wind data processing at the site coupled with the city and its relationship to electricity generation. It presents long term wind data analysis, in terms of averages of ten minute values of wind speed were used to get yearly mean values for a period of 1 year, between 04/11/2002 and 30/12/2003. Most frequent wind directions are NW, N, NNW and WNW. They represent about 50%, followed by E, ESE and SE. In general, East and SE winds are relatively frequent but weak at the same time. The most powerful directions are NW, WNW, W and NNW which by far - represent about 46% of the expected power, followed by N. It should be noted that the high frequency of north direction winds that come from the desert can cause a high frequency of dust episodes. This fact should be taken into consideration in order to take appropriate measures to prevent wind turbine deterioration. The annual energy yield and wind direction were evaluated for AL-Magrun town, considering wind turbines ranging between 1.65 MW and 2 MW (power curve considering air density 1.225 kg/m3). The wind turbine (Gamesa 90/2000) recorded the highest values, equaling (6.05GWh,3023Eqh) and (M. Torres TWT 1.65-82 ) equaling (4.39 GWh, 2660 Eqh) compared to the rest of the turbines studied. These values encouraged us to take advantage of wind power to achieve economic benefits.