Author's personal copy

Technical note
Design and implementation of wind energy system in Saudi Arabia
Ali M. Eltamaly
Sustainable Energy Technologies Center, Electrical Engineering Dept., King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 9 November 2012
Accepted 7 April 2013
Available online
Keywords:
Wind energy system design
Matching between site and wind turbine
Cost of energy
Price minimization of the generated kWh
a b s t r a c t
This paper introduces an accurate procedure to choose the best site from many sites and suitable wind
turbines for these sites depending on the minimum price of kWh generated (Energy Cost Figure (ECF))
from wind energy system. In this paper a new proposed computer program has been introduced to
perform all the calculations and optimization required to accurately design the wind energy system and
matching between sites and wind turbines. Some of cost calculations of energy methods have been
introduced and compared to choose the most suitable method. The data for ve sites in Saudi Arabia and
hundred wind turbines have been used to choose the best site and the optimum wind turbine for each
site. These sites are Yanbo, Dhahran, Dhulom, Riyadh, and Qaisumah. One hundred wind turbines have
been used to choose the best one for each site. This program is built in a generic form which allows it to
be used with unlimited number of sites and wind turbines in all over the world. The program is written
by using Visual Fortran and it is veried with simple calculation in Excel. The paper showed that the best
site is Dhahran and the suitable wind turbine for this site is KMW-ERNO with 5.85 Cents/kWh. The worst
site to install wind energy system is Riyadh with minimum price of kWh of 12.81 Cents/kWh in case of
using GE Energy 2 wind turbine.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Wind energy applications require open area or available shores
for wind energy plants. Saudi Arabia is a vast country with wide
open areas and long shores. The wind speed in most of these areas
is high enough to make the application of wind energy economical.
Saudi Arabia authorities recognize the importance of renewable
energy, especially, wind, and they will invest billions in this
promising sector of power. Even though Saudi Arabia has huge
resources of oil, it is keenly interested in taking an active part in the
development of new technologies for exploiting and utilizing
renewable sources of energy [1]. The electricity production from
wind will save oil that can be exported for increasing national in-
come. Also, the production of electric power fromwind energy will
reduce environment pollution that could be generated from con-
ventional power plants. Recently, a lot of researches in the evalu-
ating the applications of wind energy systems in Saudi Arabia are
introduced. Most of these researches recommend wind as a
promising and economical source of energy in Saudi Arabia [2e10].
While the wind resource potential in Saudi Arabia is signicant,
there are many issues surrounding its development. These include
the intermittency of the resource, its seasonal and diurnal
characteristics, its geographically remote locations, and the elec-
trical grid infrastructure that must be used to transmit the wind
energy to load areas. All of these issues pose signicant technical
barriers to the full development of Saudi Arabias wind potential.
The matching between the site and wind turbine has been
introduced in many literature [11,12]. Most of these researches did
not take into account many important issues like the suitable
economical situation in Saudi Arabia and the energy balance be-
tween the required load and the generated power. Also, the market
available software such as Homer, Retscreen, and etc are not ex-
ible enough to change the cost calculations and it is not able to
extract much information as those available from the new pro-
posed computer program.
This paper introduces an accurate procedure to choose the best
site from many sites and suitable wind turbines for these sites
depending on the minimum price of kWh generated from wind
energy system. In this paper a new proposed computer program
has been introduced to perform all the calculations and optimiza-
tion required to accurately design the wind energy system and
matching between sites and wind turbines.
Starting any program of using wind energy system in a utility
scale in any country in the world requires many steps. The rst step
is to collect accurate wind speed data for many sites to be used in
the selection process of the best site. The second step is to deter-
mine the load curves which required to be supplied. The third step E-mail addresses: eltamaly@ksu.edu.sa, eltamaly@yahoo.com.
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Renewable Energy
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ renene
0960-1481/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2013.04.006
Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52
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is to collect the data of available wind turbines in the market. This
leads to the question What is the most appropriate wind turbine
for a particular site?. The aim of this research is to provide an ac-
curate answer to this question. A new proposed computer program
is designed in this paper to answer this question and many other
questions. The function of the proposed programis to decide which
the best site from many available sites is, and which the suitable
wind turbine for each site and the minimum price for generated
kWh. This decision requires very accurate statistical calculations.
Another information can be extracted from this computer program
such as the Weibull parameters, capacity factor and other infor-
mation that may be helpful for researchers. The steps of these
processes are very long and require long time and great efforts for
calculations and optimizations. The new proposed computer pro-
gramwill solve this problemin a very short time and gives accurate
results in a exible fashion. This computer program can be applied
in any region in the world because it has the exibility to change
the economic calculation to suit any country and it is able to handle
unlimited numbers of sites and wind turbines.
2. Design of the proposed computer program
The owchart of the computer program is shown in Fig. 1. The
program has a main part and ve subroutines. Each subroutine will
perform a certain function as shown in the following sections. This
program has been applied to the ve sites in Saudi Arabia. The
performance data of hundred of market available wind turbines
were used to select the most suitable one for each site.
3. Program input data
Wind speed variation of the site and the performance charac-
teristics of wind turbines are the main factors that affect the per-
formance of wind energy system and affect the cost of kWh
generated from it. The data required for the program are:
1. Hourly wind speed data for Yanbo, Dhahran, Dhulom, Riyadh,
and Qaisumahsites of Saudi Arabia will be used. The hourly
wind speed data of these sites will be processed using sta-
tistical procedures. The computer program can perform the
optimization for unlimited number of the available data sites.
Wind data is collected from many sources as metrological
authority and over the internet. Wind speeds can be collected
for many sites for different period of times. Meteorologists
generally conclude that it takes at least 5 years of wind data
to determine a reliable average and variance of the wind
speed. Some researchers claim that shorter period of time
may be acceptable for designing renewable energy system
with acceptable condence [12]. It is better to have a small
interval between each reading of the wind speed data. Thirty
minutes are recommended interval between each two points
of data. But, this may not available for all sites under study
because some of these sites have one-hour interval. So, the
interval used in this research paper is one-hour to t all
available data.
2. Performance data for market available wind turbines are
introduced, such as rated power, hub height, diameter of swept
area, cut-in speed, rated speed, cut-out speed, price of wind
turbine, and efciency of the mechanical and electrical system.
In this step hundred market available wind turbines are
introduced to the computer program. The computer program
can perform the optimization for unlimited number of wind
turbines.
3. Hourly loads required to be supplied from the wind energy
system. The load data used in this program is actual data for
small city in Saudi Arabia. The average power required for this
load is 22.5 MW.
4. Steps of the proposed computer program
The main computer program reads all the data mentioned in
previous section. After that, the ow will go to subroutines to make
the calculations, comparisons, and optimizations. Each subroutine
makes a certain function and then sends its results to the next
subroutines. The function of each subroutine is illustrated in the
following:
4.1. Weibull parameters calculations
The purpose of this subroutine is to determine the Weibull, scale
and shape parameters, c and k. A good estimation for c and k can be
obtained quickly as the following [13]:
c 1:12U 1:5 k 3:0 (1)
Also, if the mean and variance of the wind speed are known,
then approximation for k fromRef. [13] can be used as shown in (2);
k
_
s
U
_
1:086
(2)
The variance of the Weibull density function can be shown to
be:
s
2
c
2
_
G
_
1
2
k
_
G
2
_
1
1
k
__
U
2
_
G1 2=k
G
2
1 1=k
1
_
(3)
This is a reasonably good approximation over the range
1 k 10. Once k has been determined, c can be obtained as the
following:
Reading the data
Wind turbine parameters
Hourly wind speed
Hourly load power
Weibull Parameters
Calculation, (c and k)
Calculating CF, Pav, and
ANWTG
Energy Balance
Subroutine
Is there any
other WTGs?
Is there any
other sites?
Use the
data for
new WTG
Use the
data for
new site
yes
yes
Cost Estimation
Output Results
no
no
Fig. 1. Simple block diagram of the computer program.
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 43
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c
U
G1 1=k
(4)
A relation between c and k and other parameters such as
average wind speed and hub height is extracted from the results of
this subroutine.
Another method depends on the accurate statistical analysis for
obtaining Weibull parameters has been used in this computer
program [14]. The nal results for the Weibull parameters are:
k a
c expb=k
(5)
where
a

w
i 1
x
i
y
i

w
i 1
x
i

w
i 1
y
i
w

w
i 1
x
2
i

_

w
i 1
x
i
_
2
w

w
i 1
x
i
x

w
i 1
y
i
y

w
i 1
x
i
x
2
(6)
b y
i
ax
i

1
w

w
i 1
y
i

a
w

w
i 1
x
i
(7)
and
y
i
ln ln1 Fu
i
;
x
i
lnu
i

(8)
4.2. Capacity factor and average number of wind turbines
calculation
The purpose of this subroutine is to determine the Capacity
Factor, C
F
, and the average number of wind turbine generators,
ANWTG. The capacity factor can be obtained from the following
equation [13]:
C
F

exp
_
u
c
=c
k
_
exp
_
u
r
=c
k
_
u
r
=c
k
u
c
=c
k
exp
_

_
u
f
=c
_
k
_
(9)
The average power of wind turbine can be calculated as:
P
eave
C
F
$P
er
(10)
The average number of wind turbine generator can be calculated
as:
ANWT
P
Lav
P
eave
(11)
4.3. Energy balance subroutine
The purpose of this subroutine is to determine the optimal
number of wind turbines required and the yearly energy gener-
ated from the wind energy system. Then the optimum number of
wind turbines required and the energy output for each case can
be obtained. The output power from wind energy system is given
by:
P
e

1
2
r*A
t
*u
3
*N
t
*h
0
(12)
h
o
C
p
h
m
h
g
(13)
If P
e
> P
L
; Then P
T
P
e
P
L
and P
f
0 (14)
If P
e
> P
L
; Then P
F
P
L
P
e
and P
T
0 (15)
For energy balance the following conditions must be satised:

8760
i 1
P
e
i

8760
i 1
P
L
i 0;

8760
i 1
P
T
i

8760
i 1
P
F
i 0 (16)
4.4. Energy price calculation
This subroutine is used to compute the ECF for each site and
each type of wind turbine.
4.5. ECF optimization subroutine
The purpose of this subroutine is to select the minimumvalue of
ECF and then determine the corresponding site and wind turbine
type.
5. Economic analysis method
The economic analysis proposed in this section is used to
estimate the price of the generated unit energy from wind en-
ergy system. The estimation of the price of the generated kWh
depends on the accurate estimation of the wind speed data and
the costs of the components and the operating and maintenance
costs. The general purpose of such methods is not only to
determine the economic performance of a given design of wind
energy system, but also to compare it with conventional and
other renewable energy based systems and to match between
the site and wind turbine depending on the minimum energy
price. The following are different methods of overall economic
analysis:
5.1. Simplied economic analysis methods
There are two simplied methods are discussed in the following
sections. These methods provide fast feasibility study for installing
wind energy system and it can be used to make matching between
site and wind turbines depending on the lowest price of the
generated kWh. These methods are representing simple but not
accurate techniques to calculate the price of the kWh generated
from wind energy system.
1) Simple payback period analysis
A payback calculation compares revenue with costs and de-
termines the length of time required to recoup an initial invest-
ment. The simplest payback period (in years) can be obtained from
the following equations [15]:
SP C
C
=AAR (17)
AAR E
a
P
E
(18)
SP C
C
=E
a
P
e
(19)
It should be pointed out that the calculation of simple payback
period omits many factors that may have a signicant effect on the
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 44
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system economic cost effectiveness. These include escalating fuel
(in a hybrid power system) and loan costs, depreciation on capital
costs, operation & maintenance costs (O&M), and variations in the
value of delivered electricity. Some of these variables are attempted
to be included in some authors calculations for a simple payback
period [16e19]. This method is a simplest method and it takes short
time to do the calculations and get the preliminary results and
information.
The analysis team uses SP of 10 years or less to avoid assuming
values for energy escalation rates and O&M ination factors that
are required for other life-cycle cost values [20].
2) Cost of energy analysis
The cost of energy (COE) is dened as the cost of the kWh
generated from wind energy system. That is:
Cost of energy
Operating costs
Energy produced
(20)
The simplest calculation of COE is given by Ref. [15]:
COE C
C
*FCR C
O&M
=E
a
(21)
The xed charge rate, FCR will generally reect the interest on
pays or the value of interest received if money were displaced from
savings.
5.2. Life-cycle costing methods
Life-cycle costing (LCC) is a commonly used method for the
economic evaluation of energy producing systems based on the
principles of the time value of money. The following parameters
are included in the LCC analysis:
1) Time value of money and present worth factor
A unit of currency that is to be paid (or spent) in the future will
not have the same value as one available today. This is true even if
there is no ination, since a unit of currency can be invested and
bare interest. Thus its value is increased by the interest. The future
value, FV, after N years is [15]:
FV PV1 r
N
(22)
The present worth factor, PWF is given by Ref. [15]:
PWF PV=FV 1 r
N
(23)
2) Levelizing
Levelizing is a method for expressing costs or revenues that
occur once or in irregular intervals as equivalent equal payments
at regular intervals. Considering a loan of value PV
N
is to be repaid
with a single payment F
N
at the end of N years. The payment is
[21]:
F
N
PV
N
$1 r
N
(24)
A loan that is to be repaid in N equal installments can be
considered as the sum of N loans, one for each year, the jth loan
being repaid in a single installment A at the end of the jth year.
Thus, the value, PV, of the loan equals [21]:
PV
A
1 r

A
1 r
2
::::::
A
1 r
N
A

N
j 1
1
1 r
j
(25)
3) Capital recovery factor
The capital recovery factor (CRF) is used to determine the
amount of each future payment required to accumulate a given
present value when the discount rate and the number of payments
are known. Using Equation (25), the capital recovery factor is given
by Ref. [15]:
CRF
_
r=
_
1 1 r
N
_
; if rs0
1=N if r 0
(26)
4) Net present value
The net present value (NPV) is dened as the sum of all relevant
present values. From Equation (22), the present value of a future
cost, C, evaluated at year j is [15]:
PV C=1 r
j
(27)
Thus, the NPV of a cost C to be paid each year for N years is [15]:
NPV

N
j 1
PV
i

N
j 1
C
1 r
j
(28)
If the cost C is inated at an annual rate i, the cost C
j
in year j
becomes [15]:
C
j
C1 i
j
(29)
Thus, the net present value, NPV, becomes:
NPV

N
j 1
_
1 i
1 r
_
j
C (30)
The savings version of net present value, NPV
s
is dened as
follows [15]:
NPV
s

N
j 1
_
1 i
1 r
_
j
S C (31)
If only cost factors are considered, then a cost version of net
present value, NPV
C
, may be used. NPV
C
may be found from the
following equation [15]:
NPV
C
p
d
p
a
Y
_
1
1 r
; N
_
C
C
f
OM
Y
_
1 i
1 r
; L
_
(32)
Levelized cost of energy (COE
L
) for the utility-based calculation
of cost of energy can be given by Ref. [15]:
COE
L

Levelized annual costs

Annual energy production
(33)
Using CRF and NPV
C
the COE
L
can be calculated by Ref. [5]:
COE
L

NPV
C
__
CRF
_
Annual energy production
(34)
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 45
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5.3. Electric utility based economic analysis
In the United States, electric utilities and the wind industry
commonly use either of following two methods to estimate the COE
from a utility-sized wind energy system:
1) EPRI TAG method
This method produces a simplest formfor wind energy systems;
COE is calculated as [22]:
COE FCR
_
_
_
C
c

8760,CF
_
_
_ C
O&M

(35)
Since this method produces a levelized energy cost it can be
applied to a number of technologies, including conventional power
plants (with the addition of fuel costs) for a useful comparison
index. Some limitations of the EPRI TAG method include that it
assumes a debt term life equal to the life of the power plant and it
does not readily allow for variable equity return, variable debt
repayment, or variable costs.
2) Cash ow method
The cash ow method is based on the use of an accounting type
spreadsheet that requires an annual input of estimated income and
expenses over the lifetime of the project [23,24]. The cash ow
method allows for the real variations that can be expected in cost,
operational, and economic data, such as price increases, ination,
and changing interest rates.
5.4. Levelized production cost (LPC)
In this method the cost components are assumed to be the
investment cost, operation and maintenance cost, repair
cost, salvage value and social cost. The following sections
introduce two approaches to calculate the levelized production
cost:
1) First approach
In this approach it is assumed that all costs are given in a xed
currency for a specied year. The currency and cost level year
should be decided and clearly declared by the assessor when
reporting the estimated cost of energy. In these calculations all
costs are discounted to the present value. The discounted present
value of the total cost (TC) is given as [25]:
TC I

n
t 1
O&M
t
SC
t
RC
t
$1 r
t
SV$1 r
n
(36)
The levelized production cost is given as [25]:
LPC TC=

n
t 1
AUE
t
$1 r
t
(37)
In many cases one or more of the input parameters of this
approach will be known explicitly, and of course, the known gures
should be used whenever possible.
The investment (I) should include all the costs of constructing
the wind energy conversion systems.
The total investment can be calculated by Ref. [25]:
I

j
i 1
I
i
$1 r
t
i
(38)
O&M costs depend on the number of wind turbines, the wind
turbine type and the site conditions. This method recommends
project specic estimates of the O&M costs to be specied for each
year of the schemes lifetime.
Social costs (SC) may be associated with environmental damage,
nuisance to people, etc. Sometimes social costs of wind energy
production are small or negligible, especially when compared to
those associated with energy generation from non-renewable
sources.
Replacement cost (RC) or major repairs during the adopted
lifetime should be evaluated, and it is recommended that project
specic estimates are made of the timing and cost of possible major
repairs.
The salvage value (SV) is dened as the difference between the
scrap value and the decommissioning cost of the entire scheme at
the end of the lifetime adopted for the economic analysis.
The discount rate (r) dened as the rate at which the nominal
rate, i, exceeds the ination rate, v, i.e. [25]:
1 r
1 i
1 v
(39)
The relation between the annual utilized energy (AUE
t
) and the
annual net energy (ANE
t
) is described as [26]:
AUE
t
ANE
t
$K
lost; t
$K
util; t
(40)
AUE
t
ANE
t
$K
lost; t
$K
util; t
E
pot
$K
per; t
$K
site; t
$K
ava; t
$K
lost; t
$K
util; t
(41)
The annual potential energy output (E
pot
) of a wind turbine
experiencing specic meteorological conditions is given by Ref.
[25]:
E
pot
8760$
_
N
0
pu$f
_
u
_
du (42)
The wind speed distribution f(u) should ideally be based on
many years of on-site wind speed measurements, but in practice it
will often be necessary to extrapolate long term wind data from
nearby high quality measurement stations, using for instance the
wind atlas method [27], or by applying the statistical measure-
correlate-predict approach [28].
The power curve p(u) normally gives the net power output for
standard air density conditions and for carefully selected weather.
For a stall regulated wind turbine, p(u) can be calculated by Ref.
[29]:
p
_
u
_
pu
std
$
r
1:225
(43)
The performance of a wind turbine may be reduced due to dirt,
rain or ice on the blades. Cleaning of the blades must be included in
the O&M costs or a reduction in the annual energy output DE
per, t
relative to the potential output must be assumed. The wind turbine
performance factor K
pert, t
can be calculated as [30]:
K
pert; t
1
DE
per; t
E
pot
(44)
In some cases the site surroundings may change with time due
to erection of newwind turbines, tree planting, construction of new
houses, etc. thus inuencing the wind speed distribution and the
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 46
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energy output from the wind turbine. In such cases, the reduction
in annual energy output, DE
site, t
,due to the changed surroundings
should take into account. The annual reduction may be expressed
by means of the site factor K
site, t
as [30]:
K
site; t
1
DE
site; t
E
pot
$K
per; t
(45)
The technical availability factor K
ava, t
is dened by the energy
loss DE
ava, t
due to the wind turbine availability as:
K
ava;t
1
DE
ava;t
E
pot
$K
per;t
$K
site;t
(46)
The annual electrical transmission losses factor K
los, t
can be
calculated as [25]:
K
los; t
1
DE
los; t
ANE
t
(47)
K
util
is the utilization factor and dened as [25]:
K
util; t
1
DE
util; t
ANE
t
$K
los; t
(48)
2) Second approach
This approach assumes that the annual utilized energy to be
constant from year to year (i.e. AUE
t
AUE for t 1 to n). In such
case, the LPC can be calculated as [25]:
LPC I=a$AUE TOM=AUE (49)
a is the annuity factor and is dened as [25]:
a 1=

n
t 1
1 r
t

_
1 1 r
n
__
r (50)
TOM is the total levelized annual down line costs and is
dened as [25]:
TOM a
1
$

n
t 1
OM
t
SC
t
RC
t
1 r
t
SV1 r
n
(51)
6. Economic performance sensitivity analysis
The previous sections have described a number of techniques to
determine the economic performance parameters that can be used
to evaluate various wind systems, or to compare their performance
with other types of power system. These economic techniques have
different evaluation ideas and different assumptions. One of these
techniques may be suitable for certain project and the other may
not suitable.
The cost share of different components of the wind energy
system for commercial size wind turbines (from 2 to 5 MW) is
shown in Fig. 2 [31,32]. This price range may differ from country to
country.
The cost of kWh produced is very important for the consumers
and power companies to return a prot on the capital invested. It is
very difcult to determine an accurate cost of the kWh generated
due to the variation of wind speed and changing in the price of
wind energy system components, but an approximate cost analysis
methodology can be used in this paper. This methodology was
applied to determine the cost per kWh in each type of wind turbine
and each site. This method is simple, efciently and used to
compare the cost of energy from alternative generating devices.
From the fourth subroutine the total price of kW generated by
wind turbine approximately equal to $700 per kW(based on year of
2010). The total price of microprocessor is $2.3 per kW, the total
price of main substation is $10.4 per kW, the total price of modem
for remote control in central control station is about $4.16 per kW
and the total price of transmission line is about $1.3 per kW. Then:
TPWTG $700*NWTG*Pr (52)
TPMIC $2:3*NWTG*Pr (53)
TPMS $10:4*NWTG*Pr (54)
TPCCS $4:16*NWTG*Pr (55)
TPTL $1:3*NWTG*Pr (56)
The cost of the operation and maintenance is about 10% of the
total cost. Then:
Total Price 1:1*TPWTG TPMIC TPMS TPRC TPCCS
TPTL
(57)
Total Price 1:1*718:16*NWTG*Pr (58)
ECF
Total Price*LF
YE*0:9
(59)
At 12% interest and 10 year recovery time, LF 0.177.
7. Summary of the output results
Many results have been extracted from the proposed computer
program. Each part in the computer program can provide the re-
searchers with a lot of helpful information due to the wide input.
The results of this computer program have been checked with the
results obtained from software packages used in this application
such as Homer and Retscreen. The following is the summary of the
output results:
7
0
%
5
%
7
%
8
%
2
%
2
%
2
%
2
%
2
%
Wind Turbines Electrical Installations Grid Connections
Civil Work Land Rent Project Management
Insurance Consultancy Financial Cost
Fig. 2. Fair range of the cost share of different components of the wind energy system
for commercial size wind turbine.
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 47
Author's personal copy
1) From the data of one hundred wind turbines, the relation be-
tween the rated and cut-in wind speed is shown in Fig. 3. The
relation between the rated wind speed and cut-in wind speed
is obtained by linear interpolation and the equation is shown in
(60). This curve shows design constraints for the rated and cut
in wind speed.
V
r
1:2679 V
c
8:5227 (60)
It is clear from Fig. 3 that the rated wind speed is directly pro-
portional to cut-in wind speed. Also, the minimum cut-in and rated
wind speed is 2.5 m/s and 10 m/s respectively. The maximumcut-in
and rated wind speed is 4 m/s and 15 m/s respectively.
Relations between scale and shape parameters along with the
hub height, h of wind turbine are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5
respectively. Fig. 4 shows that the value of scale parameter, c is
directly proportional to the hub height, h. This relation is very
useful in case of it is required to obtain the value of scale parameter,
c at any height. It is also clear fromFig. 5 that the shape parameter, k
is almost constant for different hub heights. Also it is clear that the
value of shape parameter, k is directly proportional to the hub
height with very low slope where the change in value of k is less
than 5% in the range of hub height.
The relation between the scale parameter and average wind
speed for three-sites under study is shown in the following Fig. 6. It
is clear from this gure that the scale parameter, c is directly pro-
portional to the average wind speed of the site, V for all sites. Also, it
is clear that the linear relation between scale and average wind
speed lie on a linear relation in ideal way for all sites. So it is easy to
get the scale parameter for any site from its average wind speed
from the following relation:
c 1:1064*U
av
0:49812 (61)
Many references have introduces a relation between scale pa-
rameters and average wind speed. O.A. Jaramillo [33] uses Gamma
function to predict this relation as shown in (62). The results ob-
tained from Ref. [33] are typically aligned on the curve shown in
Fig. 11. G. L. Johnson [34],E. L. Skidmore [35] gives another linear
relation between scale parameters and average wind speed as
shown in (63).
U
av
c
G
_
1
1
k
_
(62)
c 1:12*U
av
(63)
The relation between the shape parameter and average wind
speed for ve-sites under study is shown in Fig. 7. It is clear from
this gure that the shape parameter, k is directly proportional to the
average wind speed of the site, U
av
but the change in shape
parameter; k is very limited with change in average wind speed.
The relation between shape and scale parameters for ve sites
and one hundred wind turbines under study is shown in Fig. 8.
From this gure it is clear that, the relation is linear but differs from
site to site. This relation is shown in many references [35] as a single
2 2.5 3 3.5 4
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Cut-in wind speed
R
a
t
e
d

w
i
n
d

s
p
e
e
d
,

u
r
data 2
linear
Fig. 3. The relation between the rated and cut-in wind speeds.
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
Hub Height
S
c
a
l
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
,
C
Yanbou
Yanbou
Dohloum
Dohloum
Dahhran
Dahhran
Riyadh
Riyadh
Qaysoma
Qaysoma
Fig. 4. A relation between the scale parameter, c along with the hub height, h of wind
turbines for ve sites under study.
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
2
2.5
3
3.5
Hub Height
S
h
a
p
e

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
,

k
Yanbou
Yanbou
Dohloum
Dohloum
Dahhran
Dahhran
Riyadh
Riyadh
Qaysoma
Qaysoma
Fig. 5. A relation between the shape parameter, k along with the hub height, h of wind
turbines for ve sites under study.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Average wind speed
S
c
a
l
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
,
C
C=1.1064*uav-0.49812
Fig. 6. The relation between scale parameter and average wind speed for ve-sites and
one hundred wind turbines under study.
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 48
Author's personal copy
relation as shown in the following equation (64) [35] which is not
correct for all sites.
k 0:52 0:23c (64)
The generation of electrical energy by wind turbine at a specic
site depends upon many factors. For a givenwind site, the following
parameters should be known or can be calculated, the mean wind
speed and Weibull scale parameter (c) and shape parameter (k).
Also, for specic wind turbine the performance parameters should
be known that include: cut-in (u
c
), rated (u
r
), and furling (u
f
) wind
speeds, the hub height, and the rated power. The rated speed is the
most important for wind turbine deign. If the rated speed is chosen
too low to utilize the low wind speeds, much energy will be lost in
the higher wind speed. On the contrary, if the rated speed is too
high, the turbine seldom operates at its rated capacity and also will
lose too much energy at lower wind speed. This means the rated
speed has to be selected such that the turbine yields higher energy.
To achieve this condition a suitable relation between the site
parameter (such as average wind speed) and rated wind speed (as
wind turbine parameter) with the capacity factor, C
F
is obtained to
get the condition for maximum capacity factor as shown in Fig. 9.
This relation is drawn for ve sites and one hundred wind turbine
under study. From this gure it is clear that the capacity factor is
increasing considerably with increasing the average wind speed
and slightly increasing with reducing the rated speed. This is cor-
rect in the normal operating range.
In extending the operation of the wind turbine beyond the
normal operating range, the capacity factor increases with
increasing the ratio of average and rated wind speed till U
av
/u
r
equal approximately to 1.22 as shown in Fig. 10. After this value any
increase in the ratio U
av
/u
r
will reduce the capacity factor of the
wind turbine. The critical value of 1.22 is the average condition for
the ve sites under study. The normal operating is always below
this value in most cases.
The results of energy price along with the capacity factor of the
ve sites are shown in Fig. 11. It is clear from this gure that the
energy price inversely proportional to the capacity factor.
The energy unit price in Cents/kWh for ve sites along with
average wind speed and U
av
/u
r
and one hundred wind turbines is
shown in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 respectively. It is clear from this gure
that the price of generated kWh is inversely proportional to U
av
/u
r
.
The price of kWh generated from ve sites and the best ve out
of one hundred wind turbines are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 14. The
best wind turbine for each site and the price of kWh generated in
this matching is shown in Table 2. Its clear from these tables that
the lowest price for kWh is stand for Dhahran site and KMW-ERNO
wind turbine which is 5.85 (Cents/kWh). So, it can be said that the
best site for wind energy system installation is Dhahran and the
best wind turbine is KMW-ERNO. This wind turbine also is the best
wind turbine for Qaisumah and Dhulom sites with 6.06 and 7.06
(Cents/kWh) respectively. This wind turbine (KMW-ERNO) does not
give the minimum ECF for the other two sites (Yanbo and Riyadh),
where the minimum ECF for these two sites are in using of Acciona-
6 and GE Energy 2 wind turbines with 5.97 and 12.81 (Cents/kWh)
respectively. So, it is recommended to use KMW-ERNO wind tur-
bines in Dhahran, Qaisumah, and Dhulomsites and to use Acciona-6
and GE Energy 2 wind turbines in Yanbo and Riyadh respectively. It
is clear fromTable 1 and Fig. 14 that Dhahran, Yanbo, and Qaisumah
4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9
2
2.5
3
3.5
Average wind Speed
S
h
a
p
e

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
,

k
Yanbo
Yanbo
Douhlom
Douhlom
Dahhran
Dahhran
Riyadh
Riyadh
Qayssuma
Qayssuma
Fig. 7. The relation between shape parameter, k and the average wind speed for ve
sites and one hundred wind turbines.
4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Scale Parameter , c
s
h
a
p
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
,
k
Yanbou
Yanbou
Dohloum
Dohloum
Dahhran
Dahhran
Riyadh
Riyadh
Qaysoma
Qaysoma
Fig. 8. The relation between shape parameter and scale parameters for ve sites and
one hundred wind turbines.
Fig. 9. The relation between average wind speed of site, rated wind speed of wind
turbine and the capacity factor, C
F
.
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Uav/Ur
C
a
p
a
c
i
t
y
f
a
c
t
o
r
,
C
F
Simulation Results
Curve fitting
Fig. 10. The relation between U
av
/u
r
and capacity factor for ve sites and one hundred
wind turbines under study.
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 49
Author's personal copy
are the best sites and the highest price for kWh is associated with
Riyadh. It is clear that the price of kWh generated in Riyadh is twice
its value if we install the wind energy system in Dhahran, Yanbo, or
Qaisumah. So, it is not recommended to install wind energy system
in Riyadh.
8. Conclusions
The calculation of kWh generated from wind energy system is
the main factor which determines the visibility of installing wind
energy system in any site. Wind turbine can be suitable for one site
and may not suitable for the other site. Matching between the site
and wind turbine is important before starting installing wind tur-
bines in any country. In this study ve sites in Saudi Arabia are used
to select the best one and one hundred market available wind
turbines. A proposed computer program is introduced in this paper
to handle the whole steps of the design of the wind energy system
in very short time. Unlimited numbers of sites and wind turbines
can be used with this computer program. The salient results from
this paper show that the best site from the ve sites under study is
Dhahran and the suitable wind turbine for this site is KMW-ERNO
with 5.85 Cents/kWh. The worst site to install wind energy system
is Riyadh with minimum price of kWh of 12.81 Cents/kWh in case
of using GE Energy 2 wind turbine. This shows clearly that the price
of kWh generated in Riyadh is twice its value if we install the wind
energy systemin Dhahran. So it is not recommended to install wind
energy system in Riyadh. KMW-ERNO wind turbine is the best wind
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Capacity Factor, CF
E
n
e
r
g
y
P
r
i
c
e
(
C
e
n
t
s
/
k
W
h
)
Yanbou
Douhlom
Dahhran
Riyadh
Qaysoma
Fig. 11. The energy price in Cents/kWh for ve sites along with the capacity factor for
one hundred wind turbines under study.
4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5
5
10
15
20
25
30
Average Wind Speed
E
n
e
r
g
y
P
r
i
c
e
(
C
e
n
t
s
/
k
W
h
)
Simulation Results
Curve Fitting
Fig. 12. The energy price in Cents/kWh for ve sites along with average wind speed for
one hundred wind turbines under study.
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7
5
10
15
20
25
30
Uav/Ur
E
n
e
r
g
y
P
r
i
c
e
(
C
e
n
t
s
/
k
W
h
)
Simulation Results
Curve Fitting
Fig. 13. The energy price in Cents/kWh for ve sites along with (U
av
/u
r
) for one hun-
dred wind turbines under study.
Table 1
The energy price in Cents/kWh for ve sites and best ve out of one hundred wind
turbines.
ECF Dhahran Yanbo Qaisumah Dhulom Riyadh
KMW_ERNO 5.85 5.98 6.06 7.06 13.11
Acciona-6 6.02 5.97 6.36 7.24 12.87
GE Energy 2 6.06 6.10 6.49 7.34 12.81
Goldwind_3 6.12 6.06 6.52 7.42 13.32
GE_Energy_3 6.28 6.17 6.63 7.5 13.22
Fig. 14. The energy price in Cents/kWh for ve sites and best ve out of one hundred
wind turbines.
Table 2
The best WTG and ECF value for each site.
Site The best WTG ECF
Yanbo Acciona_6 5.97
Dhulom KMW-ERNO 7.07
Dhahran KMW-ERNO 5.85
Riyadh GE-Energy-2 12.81
Qaisumah KMW-ERNO 6.06
A.M. Eltamaly / Renewable Energy 60 (2013) 42e52 50
Author's personal copy
turbine for Qaisumah and Dhulom sites with 6.06 and 7.06 (Cents/
kWh) respectively. This wind turbine (KMW-ERNO) does not give
the minimum ECF for the other two sites (Yanbo and Riyadh),
where the minimum ECF for these two sites are in using of Acciona-
6 and GE Energy 2 wind turbines with 5.97 and 12.81 (Cents/kWh)
respectively. So, it is recommended to use KMW-ERNO wind tur-
bines in Dhahran, Qaisumah, and Dhulomsites and to use Acciona-6
and GE Energy 2 wind turbines in Yanbo and Riyadh respectively.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the National Plan for Sciences and
Technology program (Project No.08-ENE226-02) by King Saud
University for the nancial support to carry out the research work
reported in this paper.
Lists of symbols and Abbreviations
DElos, t the annual electrical transmission loss.
C
O&M

the cost of operation and maintenance normalized per

unit of energy $ per kWh.
K
lost, t
the factor relating to the electric losses which occur
between the wind turbine terminals and the electric grid
where the energy is utilized.
K
util, t
the factor which depends on how the transmitted wind
energy is utilized in the power system.
DE
per, t
the reduction in the annual energy output.
C
c

the total cost of constructing the facility normalized by

rated power $ per kW.
s the variance.
AAR the average annual return.
ANE
t
the annual net energy.
ANWTG average number of WTG.
A
t
cross sectional area of wind parcel, m
2
.
AUE
t
the annual utilized energy.
C
C
the installed capital cost.
C
F
capacity factor.
C
F
capacity factor.
C
O&M
the average annual operation and maintenance cost.
COE the cost of energy.
COE
L
the levelized cost of energy.
CRF the capital recovery factor.
E
a
the annual energy production kWh/year.
ECF energy cost gure.
FCR the xed charge rate.
f
OM
the annual operation and maintenance cost fraction (of
system capital cost).
FV the future value.
i the general ination rate.
I
i
the investment part paid.
k the shape parameter.
L the lifetime of system.
LCC the life-cycle costing.
LPC the levelized production cost.
N the period of loan, the number of year.
NPV the net present value.
NPV
C
the cost version of net present value.
NPV
s
the savings version of net present value.
N
t
the number of turbines.
P(u)
std
the power curve for standard conditions.
P
avg
the average output power.
P
E
the price obtained for electricity $ per kWh.
P
Lav
the average required load.
P
r
the rated power.
PV the present value.
PWF the present worth factor.
r the discount rate.
SP the simple payback period.
TC the total cost.
t
i
the years before the start of commercial operation of the
wind power installation.
TOM the total levelized annual down line cost.
TPCCS the total price of remote control in central control station.
TPMIC the total price of controllers.
TPMS the total price of main substation.
TPTL the total price of transmission line.
TPWTG the total price of wind turbines.
U
av
the mean wind speed m/s.
U
av
/u
r
The ratio of average and rated wind speed.
u
c
the cut-in speed.
u
f
the cutoff speed.
u
r
the rated speed.
WTG wind turbine generator.
r the corrected monthly air density Kg/m
3
.
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