Technical Note Optimal site matching of wind turbine generator: Case study of the Gulf of Suez region in Egypt M. EL-Shimy * Electric Power and Machines Department, Ain Shams University, Faculty of Engineering, 1 EL-Sarayat St., Abassia, 11517 Cairo, Egypt article info Article history: Received 8 October 2009 Accepted 24 December 2009 Keywords: Weibull probability density function Wind turbine generator (WTG) Capacity factor Turbine-performance-index Wind atlas of Egypt abstract During the last few years, Egypt has emerged as the leader of wind power in the Middle East and Africa. In the Gulf of Suez region, a continuously expanding large-scale grid-connected wind farm is available at Zafarana site. The Gulf of EL-Zayt site in the Gulf of Suez region is now under extensive studies related to wind power projects such as feasibility and bird migration studies. Therefore, the Gulf of Suez region is considered in this paper for optimal site matching of wind turbine generator (WTG). This paper treats the problem of site matching of WTG through improved formulation of the capacity factor. Such factor is estimated based on Weibull PDF and an accurate model for the WTG output-power-curve. Ornithological, martial, and other limitations placed on WTG hub heights in the Gulf of Suez region in Egypt are taken into account. In addition, a MATLAB based program is created to implement the presented technique of optimal site matching of WTG. Based on turbine-performance-index (TPI) maximization, optimal output- power-curve and optimal commercial WTG are determined for each candidate site in the Gulf of Suez region. Long-term performance measurements at Zafarana wind farms in comparison with the results are used to validate the presented technique and the optimality of the results. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Numerous decisions are involved in the design of a wind turbine generator (WTG) for a specific site. Site-specific design optimiza- tion problem of a horizontal axis, variable-speed wind turbine was treated in Ref. [1]. Factors affecting electricity production by a WTG include the mean wind speed of the site and more importantly, the characteristics of the windmill itself, especially the hub height, cut- in, rated, and furling wind speeds [2]. Many approaches based on capacity factor maximization were used to determine WTG speed parameters and the optimal WTG for a specific site defined by its wind-speed probability distribution [2–5]. In [6] optimum speed parameters of a WTG for a specific site were determined based on turbine-performance-index maximization to yield a total energy production closer to the maximum, at a high capacity factor. It is observed in the literature with regard to the modeling of WTG capacity factor based on Weibull PDF [3–6] that a constant turbine-power-coefficient is always assumed which is an unreal- istic assumption. An accurate generic model for the output-power- curve that mimics measured WTG power curves [7–9] is used in this paper to estimate the WTG capacity factor. Determination of Weibull parameters and methods of wind resource assessment can be found in Refs. [10,11] respectively. Egypt has an ambitious expansion plan for electricity production from new and renewable energy resources to satisfy 20% of the generated electricity by 2020, including 12% contribution from wind energy i.e., reaching about 7200 MW grid-connected wind farms. [12–14]. The outcomes of wind atlas of Egypt [12–15] show the potential of wind-energy resources in Egypt, especially at the west coast of the Gulf of Suez, the west and east of the Nile valley, along the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba and along the mountain ridge to the west of the Ajmah Mountain (Gebel El Tih). According to bird migration study over Gulf of Suez region [12,16], it is found that the concentration of migrating birds reaches the maximum in autumn where the rate in some areas reaches 500 bird/h at an elevation less than 100 m which places a limitation on the hub height of WTG placed at that region. As a result, wind atlas for Egypt and birds migration study are considered as the bases for all decisions related to the wind-energy prefects, planning, and feasibility studies in the future [14]. This paper treats the problem of site matching of WTG through improved formulation of the capacity factor. Such factor is esti- mated based on Weibull PDF and an accurate model for the WTG output-power-curve. Ornithological, martial, and other limitations placed on WTG hub heights in the Gulf of Suez region in Egypt are * Tel.: þ20 105639589. E-mail addresses: shimymb@yahoo.com, mohamed_bekhet@eng.asu.edu.eg Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene 0960-1481/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2009.12.013 Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 1870–1878