Abstract

Recently society of world is more interested in using pollution free sources of energy. Wind energy is among the renewable energy which is the most valuable and promising choice because it is abundant, renewable, environmentally friendly. Accessing characterizing and knowing the probability of the wind resource are the main aim of this work. The paper was started by selecting appropriate site; thus, the target area was Mekelle University. A secondary data collection method was used to carry out the study. Direct and indirect methods was used to analyses the collected data then extrapolated to the proposed hub height using power law. Weibull probability density function used to forecast the wind resource. From the analysis presented Winter was the windy season in both years and the annual mean wind speeds for the years 2010 and 2012 were 3.67 m/s and 3.57 m/s at height of 10 m and 4.69 m/s and 4.59 m/s at 26 m respectively. The dominant prevailing wind direction was east.

Keywords: Wind energy; Direct method; Indirect method; Weibull probability density function