Assessing wind energy potentiality for selected sites in Malaysia

The detailed knowledge of the wind characteristics at a site is very crucial to install and estimate the performance of a wind energy project. In this paper, with the help of 2-parameter Weibull distribution, the assessment of wind energy potentiality at Mersing, Melaka and Kuantan in 2006-2008 was carried out. The monthly and yearly highest mean wind speeds were 4.28 and 2.91 m/s respectively at Mersing. The annual highest values of the Weibull shape parameter (k) and the Weibull scale parameter (c) were 2.18 and 3.11 m/s. The maximum wind power density was found to be 26.76 W/m(2) at Mersing for the year 2008. The maximum wind power density at Melaka and Kuantan were found to be 11.98 W/m(2) and 8.4 W/m(2) respectively. The maximum wind energy density was found to be 234.42 kWh/m(2)/year at Mersing in 2008. The most probable wind speed and wind speed carrying maximum energy were estimated 2.40 m/s and 4.47 m/s at Mersing in 2008. The maximum deviation, at wind speed more than 2 m/s, between observed and Weibull frequency distribution is about 8. The most probable wind directions (blowing from) were 0 degrees, 45 degrees and 247.5 degrees at Kuantan, Melaka and Mersing respectively. From this study, it is concluded that these sites are unsuitable for large-scale wind energy generation. However, small-scale wind energy can be generated using a vertical axis turbine in Mersing