Wind Atlas for Egypt: measurements,
micro- and mesoscale modelling
Niels G. Mortensen, Jake Badger & J. Carsten Hansen
Wind Energy Department
Risø National Laboratory
2006 EWEC
1 March 2006
Acknowledgements
The ”Wind Atlas for Egypt” is the result of a team effort:
• New and Renewable Energy Authority, Cairo
• Laila Georgy Youssef (PM), Usama Said Said, Ashour Abd
El-Salam Moussa, Mohammad Akmal Mahmoud
• Egyptian Meteorological Authority, Cairo
• Ahmed El Sayed Yousef (PM), Adel Mahmoud Awad,
Mahmoud Abd-El Raheem Ahmed, Mohamed A.M. Sayed,
Mohamed Hussein Korany, Metwally Abd-El Baky Tarad
• Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde
• Bo H. Jørgensen, Charlotte B. Hasager, Uwe S. Paulsen,
Ole F. Hansen, Karen Enevoldsen
• Funding provided by NREA, EMA and Danida
• Support provided by NREA, EMA and Risø staff
Wind Atlas for Egypt overview
• Meteorological measurements
• Design and installation of 22 met. stations
• Site selection, O&M and data analysis
• Rehabilitation and recalibration of anemometers
• Micro-scale modelling (WAsP)
• Terrain descriptions for 30+ met. station sites
• WAsP modelling of 30+ met. stations sites
• Meso-scale modelling (KAMM)
• NCEP/NCAR wind climatologies
• Terrain descriptions for all of Egypt
• KAMM modelling of Egypt and 4 regions
• Verification – measurements and models
• Compilation and publication of Wind Atlas for Egypt
Meteorological mast in Zafarana
25-m lattice tower, concrete foundation
Top-pole mounting to avoid flow distortion
Hurghada Cup Anemometer Calibration Facility
10 anemometers being calibrated – reference anemometer in middle position:
Microscale modelling
•
Analysis procedure  (WAsP)
Observed Wind Climate
+ sheltering obstacles
+ roughness map (GE, SWBD)
+ elevation map (SRTM 3)
 Regional Wind Climate
•
Application procedure  (WAsP)
Regional Wind Climate
+ sheltering obstacles
+ roughness map
+ elevation map
 Predicted Wind Climate
+ power and thrust curves
 Predicted wind farm AEP
Katamaya elevation map from SRTM 3 data
2020 km with 10-m contours
22 km with 1-m contours
Alexandria roughness map from Google Earth
SRTM Water Body
Data coastline
Egyptian regional wind climates
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30 met. stations
WAsP modelling
Graph shows RWC
Mean wind speed
and power density
50 m a.g.l.
Flat, uniform terrain
with z0 = 0.03 m
Output format:
WAsP *.lib file
• Weibull A and k
• Standard heights
• Standard z0
Gulf of Suez regional wind climates
•
•
•
Graph shows RWC
Mean wind speed
and power density
50 m a.g.l.
Flat, uniform terrain
with z0 = 0.03 m
Probably the best wind farm site in the world…
Hub height 50 m:
U > 11 ms-1
P > 1100 Wm-2
CF ~ 70%
FLH ~ 6000 h
100’s of km2…
Mesoscale modelling
•
KAMM modelling
NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data
+ roughness map (GLCC)
+ elevation map (GTOPO30)
 KAMM Predicted Wind Climate
•
Inverse application procedure
KAMM Predicted Wind Climate
+ terrain descriptions
 Regional Wind Climate
•
Application procedure  (WAsP)
Regional Wind Climate
+ terrain descriptions
 Predicted Wind Climate
+ power and thrust curves
 Predicted wind farm AEP
New wind resource map of Egypt
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•
•
•
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Map shows PWC
KAMM modelling
Resolution 7.5 km
Mean wind speed
50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]
NCEP/NCAR data
GTOPO30 elevation
GLCC land cover
Terrain features may
give higher wind
speeds locally!
Output formats:
• map graphics
• statistics
…and Egyptian offshore wind resources
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•
•
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Map shows PWC
KAMM modelling
Resolution 7.5 km
Mean wind speed
50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]
Regional wind climate
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•
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Map shows RWC
Wind climate over
flat, uniform terrain
KAMM modelling
Resolution 7.5 km
Mean wind speed
50 m a.g.l. [ms-1]
Database of RWC’s
Output format:
WAsP *.lib file
• Weibull A and k
• Standard heights
• Standard z0’s
Verification: Western Desert
15
14
13
12
WAsP wind speed [m/s]
11
10
9
Abu Simbel
Asswan
Dakla South
Kharga
Shark El-Ouinat
1:1
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
NWA wind speed [m/s]
Verification – Gulf of Suez
Abu Darag
15
14
Abu Darag NW
13
WAsP wind speed [m/s]
12
Gulf of-El-Zayt
11
Hurghada WETC
10
9
St. Paul
8
Zafarana M7
7
6
Zafarana
5
El-Zayt NW
4
3
1:1
2
Ras Sedr
1
0
Katamaya
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
NWA wind speed [m/s]
Ras Ghareb
Verification – summary
Domain
Grid size
Mean abs. error
Mean abs. error
All stations
Selected stations
[km]
[%]
[%]
Western Egypt
7.5
12.4

Eastern Egypt
7.5
7.6

Northwest Coast
5.0
5.2

Western Desert
5.0
3.1

Gulf of Suez
5.0
9.4
5.6
Red Sea
5.0
10.5
4.4
Bird Migration
Atlas
Wind Atlas
for Egypt
§§
Maps &
other
data
Legislation
Wind Farm Planning
Master
plans
EIA
GUIDELINES
APPROVALS
The future…
• Numerical wind atlas (KAMM/WAsP)
• Long-term data (1968-95) – infrequent updating ok
• Observational wind atlas
• Some reference met. stations should continue
• New measurement programmes may be initiated
• Cup anemometers must be rehabilitated and recalibrated
• Databases can be updated and extended
• Wind Atlas for Egypt can be updated
• Conclusions
• wind ressource assessment, siting and wind farm planning
can now be done within hours anywhere in Egypt
• present approach to wind resource assessment and siting in
Egypt may be continued for several years