Assessment of wind energy potential for coastal locations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This paper presents the wind data analysis for five coastal locations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, namely Dhahran, Yanbo, Al-Wajh, Jeddah, and Gizan. The data analysis utilized hourly mean values of wind speed and wind direction covering a period of almost 14 years between 1970 and 1983. The data were validated in terms of completeness, continuity, erroneous values, etc. The analyses include seasonal and diurnal changes in wind speed values. Energy calculations and capacity factors were also determined for wind machines of different sizes between 150 and 2500 kW. It was found that Yanbo is the best location, among the sites analyzed, for harnessing the power of wind, while Dhahran is the next best location. The other three locations were found to have more or less the same results.