Assessment of wind energy potential and characteristics in Qatar for clean electricity generation

Abstract

The present study analyzes the wind energy potential of Qatar, by generating a wind atlas and a Wind Power Density map for the entire country based on ERA-5 data with over 41 years of measurements. Moreover, the wind speeds’ frequency and direction are analyzed using wind recurrence, Weibull, and wind rose plots. Furthermore, the best location to install a wind farm is selected. The results indicate that, at 100 m height, the mean wind speed fluctuates between 5.6054 and 6.5257 m/s. Similarly, the Wind Power Density results reflect values between 149.46 and 335.06 W/m2. Furthermore, a wind farm located in the selected location can generate about 59.7437, 90.4414, and 113.5075 GWh/y electricity by employing Gamesa G97/2000, GE Energy 2.75-120, and Senvion 3.4M140 wind turbines, respectively. Also, these wind farms can save approximately 22,110.80, 17,617.63, and 11,637.84 tons of CO2 emissions annually.