Evaluation of wind energy potential in Morocco's coastal regions

This paper evaluates the potential of wind energy in six coastal locations in the Kingdom of Morocco, namely Al Hoceima, Tetouane, Assila, Essouira, Laayoune and Dakhla. First, a literature review of recent wind energy potential studies in different locations worldwide has been conducted. Thereafter, the status of wind energy development in Morocco along with its achievements and challenges has been reported. A comprehensive literature review of the mathematical distributions used to fit wind data and procedures employed to estimate the shape and scale parameters of the Weibull distribution is as well presented. The second part of this paper investigated the statistical analysis of wind data based on hourly wind speeds and directions considered for a period of five years between 2011 and 2015. The analysis has shown that the Weibull model independently of the used algorithms for estimation scale and shape parameters, presented an accurate description of the frequencies of actual wind data. By the end, annual energy outputs and capacity factors were derived for wind turbines of various sizes between 225 and 900kW. The results showed that Dakhla is the most suitable location for harnessing the wind power, while Laayoune has been identified as the second most suitable site. Both Dakhla and Laayoune were found to be suitable for the grid-connected wind energy conversion system while Assila and Essouira have been categorized to be appropriate for the stand-alone wind power applications.