Wind speed distribution modeling for wind power estimation: Case of Agadir in Morocco

To estimate a wind turbine output, optimize its dimensioning, and predict the economic profitability and risks of a wind energy project, wind speed distribution modeling is crucial. Many researchers use directly Weibull distribution basing on a priori acceptance. However, Weibull does not fit some wind speed regimes. The goal of this work is to model the wind speed distribution at Agadir. For that, we compare the accuracy of four distributions (Weibull, Rayleigh, Gamma, and lognormal) which have given good results in this yield. The goodness-of-fit tests are applied to select the effective distribution. The obtained results explain that Weibull distribution is fitting the histogram of observations better than the other distributions. The analysis deals with comparing the error in estimating the annual wind power density using the examined distributions. It was found that Weibull distribution presents minimum error. Thus, wind energy assessors in Agadir can use directly Weibull distribution basing on a scientific decision made via statistical tests. Moreover, assessors worldwide can use the followed methodology to model their wind speed measurements.