On the use of wind energy at Tlemcen, North-western region of Algeria

In this work, ten years of wind data from Tlemcen meteorological station have been used to evaluate the potential of wind power on the North occidental region of Algeria. The WAsP program was used to analyse the wind Atlas of the region to find the windiest areas. The study proposes to assess the wind energy produced and the cost per kWh of electricity produced by a wind farm of 18.4 MW rated capacity installed at the southern part of Tlemcen. Despite a relatively low potential assessed at the meteorological station, it was possible to delineate a favourable zone for the use of wind energy. Thus, the investigation at 10 m above ground at the location of the airport shows a low wind potential, with an annual mean wind speed equal to 2.42 m/s and an annual mean power density of 49W/m(2) while, the temporal study gives the hottest months as the windiest. However, the windiest area received 23 wind turbines of 800 kW rated capacity and gives an annual energy production equal to 25.3 GWh. Concerning the economic analysis, it gives 0.0587 $ per kWh produced for a wind farm expected to cost about 30 million $ (US Dollar) for 20 years. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.