Statistical Fitting of Wind Speed Data for Determination of Wind Power Potentials in Saudi Arabia

This paper present a statistical analysis of wind speed data for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study aim to determine the best probability distribution function for the wind speed data of some selected sites in the Kingdom. This is achieved by analysing a few parameter distribution functions. The probability distribution functions used in the analyses were Weibull, gamma, and Rayleigh distributions. In order to determine the best fits, a mean annual error was used. Results shows that the Weibull distribution has a 0.000601 annual average error, followed by the gamma distribution with an annual error of 0.362221, and finally, the Rayleigh distribution with an annual distribution error 0.63323. This indicates that the sites under study are suitable for electrical power generation in both grid-connected and off-grid modes. Comparing the annual error of each site shows that the gamma distribution performs better compared to other distributions. The results determined the best site for wind speed and very important for various microgrids designs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.