Assessing wind energy potential via weibull parameters at wereilu, south wollo, Ethiopia

Ethiopian energy sector is highly depend on traditional biomass and has very low modern energy. In this study, wind energy potential of Wereilu, Amhara Region, Ethiopia is analyzed statistically by using the data of wind speed that was measured between 2008 -2017 years. The Weibull distribution method and Rayleigh distribution method were used in this study. Three different methods namely: moment method (MM), empirical method (EM) and Energy Pattern Method (EPM) were used to estimate the Weibull parameters. The results showed that Energy Pattern Method was the most efficient methods for determining the value of shape parameter k and scale parameter c. Four statistical tools namely: the mean percentage error (MPE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean square error (RMSE) parameter and Chi square error (χ^2) were used to precisely rank the distribution methods. The statistical fitting of the wind power density from measured data and wind power density estimated using Weibull and Rayleigh are determined for justifying the performance of the methods. According to the data obtained from Kombolcha Meteorological agency wind energy generation in Wereilu was fair. The result showed that the site has the potential of generating wind power density of 10.45Wm-2 at height of 10 m. From statistical tests, Rayleigh model is recommended for this area. Therefore, this paper gives the assessment of wind energy in Wereilu, South Wollo, Ethiopia.