Wind Atlas for Egypt: measurements, micro- and mesoscale modelling

Niels G. Mortensen, Jake Badger & J. Carsten Hansen

Wind Energy Department

Risø National Laboratory

2006 EWEC

1 March 2006

Acknowledgements

The ”Wind Atlas for Egypt” is the result of a team effort:• New and Renewable Energy Authority, Cairo

• Laila Georgy Youssef (PM), Usama Said Said, Ashour Abd El-Salam Moussa, Mohammad Akmal Mahmoud

• Egyptian Meteorological Authority, Cairo• Ahmed El Sayed Yousef (PM), Adel Mahmoud Awad,

Mahmoud Abd-El Raheem Ahmed, Mohamed A.M. Sayed, Mohamed Hussein Korany, Metwally Abd-El Baky Tarad

• Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde• Bo H. Jørgensen, Charlotte B. Hasager, Uwe S. Paulsen,

Ole F. Hansen, Karen Enevoldsen• Funding provided by NREA, EMA and Danida• Support provided by NREA, EMA and Risø staff

Wind Atlas for Egypt overview

• Meteorological measurements• Design and installation of 22 met. stations• Site selection, O&M and data analysis• Rehabilitation and recalibration of anemometers

• Micro-scale modelling (WAsP)• Terrain descriptions for 30+ met. station sites• WAsP modelling of 30+ met. stations sites

• Meso-scale modelling (KAMM)• NCEP/NCAR wind climatologies• Terrain descriptions for all of Egypt• KAMM modelling of Egypt and 4 regions

• Verification – measurements and models• Compilation and publication of Wind Atlas for Egypt

Meteorological mast in Zafarana

25-m lattice tower, concrete foundation Top-pole mounting to avoid flow distortion

Hurghada Cup Anemometer Calibration Facility

10 anemometers being calibrated – reference anemometer in middle position:

Microscale modelling

• Analysis procedure (WAsP)

Observed Wind Climate

+ sheltering obstacles

+ roughness map (GE, SWBD)

+ elevation map (SRTM 3) Regional Wind Climate

• Application procedure (WAsP)

Regional Wind Climate

+ sheltering obstacles

+ roughness map

+ elevation map Predicted Wind Climate

+ power and thrust curves Predicted wind farm AEP

Katamaya elevation map from SRTM 3 data

2020 km with 10-m contours

22 km with 1-m contours

Alexandria roughness map from Google Earth

SRTM Water BodyData coastline

Egyptian regional wind climates

• 30 met. stations

• WAsP modelling

• Graph shows RWC

• Mean wind speedand power density 50 m a.g.l.

• Flat, uniform terrain with z0 = 0.03 m

• Output format: WAsP *.lib file

• Weibull A and k

• Standard heights

• Standard z0

Gulf of Suez regional wind climates

• Graph shows RWC

• Mean wind speedand power density 50 m a.g.l.

• Flat, uniform terrain with z0 = 0.03 m

Probably the best wind farm site in the world…

Hub height 50 m:

U > 11 ms-1

P > 1100 Wm-2

CF ~ 70%

FLH ~ 6000 h

100’s of km2…

Mesoscale modelling

• KAMM modelling

NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data

+ roughness map (GLCC)

+ elevation map (GTOPO30) KAMM Predicted Wind Climate

• Inverse application procedure

KAMM Predicted Wind Climate

+ terrain descriptions Regional Wind Climate

• Application procedure (WAsP)

Regional Wind Climate

+ terrain descriptions Predicted Wind Climate

+ power and thrust curves Predicted wind farm AEP

New wind resource map of Egypt

• Map shows PWC

• KAMM modelling

• Resolution 7.5 km

• Mean wind speed50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]

• NCEP/NCAR data

• GTOPO30 elevation

• GLCC land cover

• Terrain features may give higher wind speeds locally!

• Output formats:

• map graphics

• statistics

…and Egyptian offshore wind resources

• Map shows PWC

• KAMM modelling

• Resolution 7.5 km

• Mean wind speed50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]

Regional wind climate

• Map shows RWC

• Wind climate over flat, uniform terrain

• KAMM modelling

• Resolution 7.5 km

• Mean wind speed50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]

• Database of RWC’s

• Output format: WAsP *.lib file

• Weibull A and k

• Standard heights

• Standard z0’s

Verification: Western Desert

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

NWA wind speed [m/s]

WA

sP w

ind

sp

eed

[m

/s]

Abu Simbel

Asswan

Dakla South

Kharga

Shark El-Ouinat

1:1

Verification – Gulf of Suez

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1

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

NWA wind speed [m/s]

WA

sP

win

d s

pe

ed

[m

/s]

Abu Darag

Abu Darag NW

Gulf of-El-Zayt

Hurghada WETC

St. Paul

Zafarana M7

Zafarana

El-Zayt NW

1:1

Ras Sedr

Katamaya

Ras Ghareb

Verification – summary

Domain Grid size Mean abs. error Mean abs. error

All stations Selected stations

[km] [%] [%]

Western Egypt 7.5 12.4

Eastern Egypt 7.5 7.6

Northwest Coast 5.0 5.2

Western Desert 5.0 3.1

Gulf of Suez 5.0 9.4 5.6

Red Sea 5.0 10.5 4.4

Wind Farm Planning

Wind Atlasfor Egypt

Bird MigrationAtlas

Maps &other data

§§Legislation

Masterplans

EIAGUIDELINESAPPROVALS

The future…

• Numerical wind atlas (KAMM/WAsP)• Long-term data (1968-95) – infrequent updating ok

• Observational wind atlas• Some reference met. stations should continue• New measurement programmes may be initiated• Cup anemometers must be rehabilitated and recalibrated• Databases can be updated and extended• Wind Atlas for Egypt can be updated

• Conclusions• wind ressource assessment, siting and wind farm planning

can now be done within hours anywhere in Egypt• present approach to wind resource assessment and siting in

Egypt may be continued for several years