TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF OFFSHORE WIND POWER RESOURCES IN THE GULF OF AQABA

The present work conducted offshore wind power resources assessment (OWPRA) at six offshore locations in the Gulf of Aqaba. The hourly mean wind speed (WS) and direction (WD) data at 100 m above the water surface, in addition to temperature and pressure near water surface level, between 1979 and 2021 (43 years) has been used. Log-term mean WS values at L1 to L6 locations are 5.89, 6.58, 8.34, 7.69, 6.26, and 5.01 m/s and the corresponding wind power density (WPD) (are 221, 263, 547, 394, 205, and 104 W/m(2) at 100 m above the water surface; respectively. The windy site identifier index (WSI) with magnitudes of 31.91, 26.17, and 10.12 at L3, L4, and L2 sites further confirms the suitability of these sites as indicated by higher WS and WPD values above. However, the cost of energy, calculated based on an average total installation cost of 4,720.25 USD/kW during 2010 to 2021 are found to be 1.160 USD/kWh and 1.80 USD/kWh, for the best and the worst scenarios corresponding to L3 and L2 sites. The monthly and annual wind variability indices remained <1 at most of the location, which is an indication of less turbulent windy sites.