Wind-speed prediction and analysis based on geological and distance variables using an artificial neural network: A case study in South Korea

•Accuracy of the wind-speed prediction at the designated target site was evaluated.•Wind-speed data from reference stations employing ANN were used.•Effect of topography and distance were determined using ANN for wind-speed prediction.•Correlation, wind-speed comparison, MAE, and MSE were used.

In this study, we investigate the accuracy of wind-speed prediction at a designated target site using wind-speed data from reference stations that employ an ANN (artificial neural network). The reference and target sites fall into three geographical categories: plains, coast, and mountains of South Korea. Accurate wind-speed predictions are calculated by means of a correlation coefficient between the actual and simulated wind-speed data obtained by ANN. We investigate the effect of the geological characteristics of each category and the distance between reference and target sites on the accuracy of wind-speed prediction using ANN.