Wind energy resource mapping of Palestine

• Published in: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews 2016-04, Vol.56, p.551-562
• Main Authors: De Meij, A., Vinuesa, J.-F., Maupas, V., Waddle, J., Price, I., Yaseen, B., Ismail, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Banks; Climatology; Density; Mathematical models; Palestine; Wind atlas; Wind energy resource assessment; Wind power; Wind power generation; Wind profiles; Wind speed
• ISSN: 1364-0321; 1879-0690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.090

This study presents the analysis of the climatology of the wind profile over the State of Palestine, together with the selection of the typical meteorological year, the wind power density and the annual energy production. This climatology is based on a 12-year simulation (2000–2011) using the numerical weather prediction model WRF. Our analysis of the wind profiles showed that the highest yearly average wind speeds are calculated for 2003, while the lowest yearly average wind speeds are calculated for 2008. For Gaza and West Bank region the highest wind speeds are observed during the winter period and the prevailing wind direction is westerly for both Gaza and West Bank. An analysis of the statistics on the wind climatology showed that the year 2011 can be considered as a typical meteorological year. In general, the wind speeds for the Gaza region are the highest closest to the sea, while more inland lower wind speeds are found. Over the elevated terrain of the central part of the West Bank region the highest wind speeds are calculated. The analysis of the comparison of the calculated wind speeds with the observations shows that for 16 out of 20 stations the relation RMSEmod