3RD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON TECHNOLOGY - ENGINEERING & SCIENCE - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia (2017-02-09)

Understanding Of Fluctuating Nature Of Wind

Understanding the inherent features of wind speed (variability on different time scales) has become critical for assured wind power availability, grid stability, and effective power management. The study utilizes the wavelet, autocorrelation, and FFT (fast Fourier transform) techniques to analyze and assimilate the fluctuating nature of wind speed data collected over a period of 29 to 42 years at different locations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The long-term mean wind speed varied between 1.45 m/s at Makkah station to 3.73 m/s at Taif. The maximum wind speed of 37.55 m/s was recorded at Sharourah meteorological station and the minimum of the maximum of 11.32 m/s at Najran and Taif meteorological stations. The spectral characteristics obtained using FFT reveal that Al-Baha, Najran, Taif and Wadi-Al-Dawasser having a sharp peak at a frequency f = 0.00269 (1/day) retain a more regular annual repetition of wind speed than Bisha, Khamis-Mushait, Madinah, Makkah, and Sharourah. Based on the autocorrelation analysis and FFT results, the stations are divided into three groups (i) having strong annual modulations (Al-Baha, Najran, Taif, and Wadi-Al-Dawasser), (ii) having comparable annual and half yearly modulations (Bisha, Khamis-Mushait, and Makkah), and (iii) having annual modulation moderately prominent (Madinah and Sharourah).
Qinmin Zheng, Md. Mahbub Alam, Zaka Muhammad, S. Rehman