Wind energy potential and economic assessment of four locations in Sistan and Balouchestan province in Iran

Utilization of wind turbines to produce energy has been increasing in recent years, due to technology advancement, cost stability and environmental issues. In this paper, the wind resource and economic feasibility have been studied to avoid investment risk in cites of Zabol, Zahak, Zahedan and Mirjaveh in Sistan and Balouchestan province of Iran. The Weibull distribution function has been applied to estimate the wind power and energy density, using meteorological data. Determination of coefficient, root mean square error, mean bias error and mean bias absolute error are also calculated to ensure the accuracy of the statistical analysis of fitted distribution. Windographer software has been employed to investigate the prevailing wind direction. The estimated annual energy densities are 2495.36, 2355.69, 1265.24 and 1214.01 kWh/m2/year, and the annual mean power densities are 284.97, 269.02, 144.49 and 138.64 W/m2. It is found that Zabol and Zahedan are suitable for large scale power generation. The results indicate that using DW61-900 kW wind turbines are highly beneficial for Zabol and Zahak, while for Zahedan, DW52/54-250 kW wind turbine is more appropriate for generating electricity. However, Mirjaveh is suitable for off-grid applications. It should be noted that in this analysis, monetary units are presented in 2016 U.S. dollar.