International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology. ISSN 0974-3154, Volume 12, Number 6 (2019), pp. 784-792 © International Research Publication House. http://www.irphouse.com 784 Evaluation of the Wind Energy Potential in Lebanon's Coastal Regions using Weibull Distribution Function Youssef Kassem 1, 2, *, Hüseyin Gökçekuş 1 , Moaad M. Mizran 2 , Salah M. Alsayas 2 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty, Near East University, 99138 Nicosia (via Mersin 10, Turkey), Cyprus. 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Near East University, 99138 Nicosia (via Mersin 10, Turkey), Cyprus. *Correspondence Author Abstract In the present paper, the wind potential at some selected regions in Lebanon using Two-Parameter Weibull distribution function is investigated. In addition, two methods called maximum likelihood (MLM) and moment (MM) methods are used to estimate the parameters of Weibull function. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) statistic and Chi-Square (CS) statistic are calculated in order to assess the reliability of the method. It is found that the MM method is provided a good fit to the actual wind speed data. In addition, the wind power densities are determined at different hub height using power law method. The result showed that the wind speeds at the selected study are within the range of 2.627 m/s and 3.56 m/s. Furthermore, the wind speed densities are varied between 14.634W/m2 and 25.280W/m2, which classified as poor wind power. Consequently, the result demonstrated that the small- scale wind turbines are suitable to be used for producing electricity in the studied regions. Keywords: Lebanese coastal regions; Weibull statistical distribution; wind speed characteristics; wind power density 1. INTRODUCTION The global energy demand is rapidly increased because of the growth of the population, consumption of fossil fuel [1, ]. Therefore, the increases of populations and energy demand have increased in recent years the significance of renewable energy as an alternative source especially wind energy for electricity generating in Libya to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Wind energy is recognized as a significant source for reducing and consumption of fossil fuel [3, 4]. Additionally, wind energy is a clean, environmentally friendly and inexhaustible energy source [5-7]. An alternative source such as wind is needed to reduce GHG emissions [7]. Wind energy can be used as a power generator for home, businesses and so on [7- 10]. The wind turbine is used to convert the wind speed into electricity [11]. Several researchers have studied wind and solar potential of various locations in the world. For instance, Alayat et al. [12] evaluated the wind potential at an eight-selected location in Northern Cyprus. They concluded that small-scale wind turbine could be used for generating electricity in these locations. Kassem et al. [13] evaluated the economic feasibility of 12MW grid-connected wind farms and PV plants for producing electricity at Girne and Lefkoşa in Northern Cyprus. The authors concluded that PV plants are the most economical option compared to wind farms for generating electricity in the selected studied. Kassem et al. [13] analyzed the potential of wind energy at Salamis region in Northern Cyprus. They found that high capacity wind turbine (MW) could not be suitable for electricity production in the region based on the value of wind power density. Solyali et al. [14] studied wind power potential for Selvili-Tepe location in Northern Cyprus. The authors found that wind energy sources in this site are classified to be marginal (wind power class is 2). Azad et al. [15] investigated the wind energy assessment at different hub heights in desired locations using the Weibull distribution function. The results indicated that wind power sources in the site are categorized to be poor. Albani and Ibrahim [16] analyzed the wind energy potential at three coastal locations in Malaysia. They concluded that wind farm project could be feasible at some certain location in Malaysia. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the wind potential in three regions, namely, Beirut, Sidon, and Tripoli, in Lebanon. The data consist of daily, monthly and yearly wind speed data during seven years period (2010-2016) and measured at 10m height. The Weibull distribution function is used to analyze the wind speed characteristics of the selected regions. Two methods (maximum likelihood (MLM) and moment (MM)) methods are utilized to determine the parameters (shape and scale parameters). In order to estimate the wind speed and wind power density at different hub heights, the power law model is used. 2. RENEWABLE ENERGY IN LEBANON The clean power source is the power that generated using natural energy such as hydro, solar, and wind and so on. These natural sources are free and known as renewable energy sources. Currently, the electrical energy in Lebanon is generated by oil product, hydro-power, and importation as shown in Figure 1. It is observed that approximately 95% of the energy generated by oil product and 0.3% by renewable sources. In addition, according to the global atlas map, the