FEASIBILITY STUDY OF WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL IN CHICHO VI LLAGE

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.