Abstract:
The rising concerns over global warming, environmental pollution, and energy security have
increased interest in developing renewable and environmentally friendly energy resources
such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass as the replacements of fossil fuels.
Wind energy can provide suitable solutions to the global climate change and energy crises.
The purpose of this study is to assess wind energy potential for the Village of Chicho in north
Shewa of Ethiopia. The mean wind speed data were collected from Kombolcha
meteorological agency at a span between 2011and 2015.The wind data analysis carried out
by using Weibull statistical distribution Analysis, Matlab and Excel Software. The calculated
average wind speed, wind power density and energy densities at hub height of 30m are
6.20m/s, 219.1W/
, and 1919.3KWh/
respectively. The Results of the study indicate that
wind energy in this area can be implemented for wind farm since Chicho village falls in to
class2, and is classified as marginal for most times of the year. For the determination of the
number and the size of wind turbine, the load demand of the hypothetical model of rural
village of 110 households and the surrounding community was calculated. A total of
515.3KWh/day is the energy required for a Chicho village of 110 household populations and
the surrounding community, where the energy that could be generated from Chicho wind farm
by using Hummer wind turbine will be 24048KWh/a year. Therefore, eight number of 10KW Hummer wind turbines are required to meet the electrical power need of the village and
surrounding community.
