Optimization of wind turbine micrositing: A comparative study

The need for energy is an attention required issue for the developing countries. Developing countries are in the grip of the deficit of fossils or hydrocarbons sources of energy. Many countries are looking for the optimal solutions of energy production which are more reliable, pollution free and presume less cost. Pakistan is also in the list of those countries who want to get rid of expensive and polluted means of power production. Power production to fulfill the demand of the country is the biggest challenge for Pakistan. Therefore, many sites are under consideration for greener solutions of the problem. The proposed study is undertaken for the under consideration site, Gharo, Sindh, Pakistan. The present research is undertaken to find out the optimal solution for the wind turbine micrositings. A comparison of present study with different past studies (using different optimization techniques, i.e., genetic algorithm, Monte Carlo simulation method etc.) have been undertaken to prove the results of the present study as better results. The basic objective of the study is to find out the most optimal solution for cost per unit power; therefore, the number of wind turbines is not an issue in the undertaken study however, cost is the function of number of wind turbines and to optimize the solution, MS-Excel is used first to prove that power is a function of Wind speed. Second, genetic algorithm is also used for minimal value of fitness function.