Analysis of wind regimes for energy estimation in Bamenda, of the North West Region of Cameroon, based on the Weibull distribution
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Abstract
The modelling and prediction of wind characteristics in a region is a primary requirement to the development of the corresponding wind energy system. This paper studies the wind energy potential for Bamenda in the North-West Region of Cameroon, with geographical coordinates: latitude 5.96°N, longitude 10.12°E and an elevation of 785 m. The analysis is based on data obtained from NASA surface meteorology and solar energy dataset for 11 years 1983 to 1993 through the RETScreen software tool provided by CANMET Canada. Through an analysis using the Weibull distribution function, the Weibull shape k, and scale c, parameters are determined using the least square graphical method to be 6.938 and 2.022 respectively. The mean wind speed, the variance, the standard deviation, the most probable /speed and the wind power density are also estimated characterising the wind regime of Bamenda. Comparing these results with the measured ones, it is shown that the Weibull distribution can be used with acceptable statistical accuracy for prediction of wind energy potential of Bamenda.
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