Jordan wind energy potential and suggested areas for large-scale wind turbines investment

The objective of this work was to evaluate Jordan wind energy potential and identify the best locations for large scale wind turbines investment. The evaluation was based on the Global Wind Atlas code. The results of evaluation indicate that, the farthest south Aqaba-shore at the border of Saudi Arabia (29.4 degrees N, 35.0 degrees E) and Sabha village in Mafraq (32.3 degrees N, 37.0 degrees E) were the best locations for large scale wind turbines investment. The Aqaba site has an area of about 84 km2 with energy generation capability of about 0.45 GW and Sabha site has an area of 182 km2 with energy generation capability of about 0.95 GW. The economical evaluation of the locations was also included in this work which indicates that the installed cost of 4 MW turbine is about $ 7.6 Million/Turbin with a net profit of about $27 Million/Turbin over the turbine lifetime of 20 years. The cost of investment in both sites is about $5 billion with a net profit of about $17.4 billion over 20 years lifetime. The energy extracted from both sites, 1.4GW, can contribute to about 71 % of electricity needs in Jordan.