The potential of wind for energy production and water pumping in Iran, Saravan County

Sustainable sources of energy are vital for energy production in remote areas which have difficult access to electricity and grid. Thus, in this paper an initial evaluation of wind resource for over 18 months was done to evaluate the potential of wind energy as a power generation source in a remote village in Saravan county, southeastern Iran. The Weibull distribution is employed to model the wind data at three heights: 10, 30 and 40 meters. The Weibull distribution presented in this study indicates a good compatibility with the measured wind data. Different wind speed parameters such as monthly and diurnal wind speed profiles at different heights, wind direction, turbulence intensity, and etc. have been estimated and analyzed. The results showed the studied site has not the sufficient wind speed and power for development of commercial wind power plants. But the studied site may be suitable for development of small and residential wind turbines. Therefore in the next part of study, energy production of different small wind turbines has been estimated. It was concluded that one of the small wind turbines which has the highest net energy production of 33,685 kWh/yr and highest capacity factor of 25.6% can be suitable for non-grid connected electrical and mechanical applications, such as local consumption, battery charging, and water pumping. In the last phase of study, the water pumping potential of the studied area has been investigated.