TY - JOUR
T1 - Offshore wind energy resource assessment across the territory of Oman
T2 - A spatial-temporal data analysis
AU - Al-Hinai, Amer
AU - Charabi, Yassine
AU - Aghay Kaboli, Seyed H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and British Petroleum (BP), under grant number BP/DVC/CESR/18/01.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3/6
Y1 - 2021/3/6
N2 - Despite the long shoreline of Oman, the wind energy industry is still confined to onshore due to the lack of knowledge about offshore wind potential. A spatial-temporal wind data analysis is performed in this research to find the locations in Oman’s territorial seas with the highest potential for offshore wind energy. Thus, wind data are statistically analyzed for assessing wind characteristics. Statistical analysis of wind data include the wind power density, and Weibull scale and shape factors. In addition, there is an estimation of the possible energy production and capacity factor by three commercial offshore wind turbines suitable for 80 up to a 110 m hub height. The findings show that offshore wind turbines can produce at least 1.34 times more energy than land-based and nearshore wind turbines. Additionally, offshore wind turbines generate more power in the Omani peak electricity demand during the summer. Thus, offshore wind turbines have great advantages over land-based wind turbines in Oman. Overall, this work provides guidance on the deployment and production of offshore wind energy in Oman. A thorough study using bankable wind data along with various logistical considerations would still be required to turn offshore wind potential into real wind farms in Oman.
AB - Despite the long shoreline of Oman, the wind energy industry is still confined to onshore due to the lack of knowledge about offshore wind potential. A spatial-temporal wind data analysis is performed in this research to find the locations in Oman’s territorial seas with the highest potential for offshore wind energy. Thus, wind data are statistically analyzed for assessing wind characteristics. Statistical analysis of wind data include the wind power density, and Weibull scale and shape factors. In addition, there is an estimation of the possible energy production and capacity factor by three commercial offshore wind turbines suitable for 80 up to a 110 m hub height. The findings show that offshore wind turbines can produce at least 1.34 times more energy than land-based and nearshore wind turbines. Additionally, offshore wind turbines generate more power in the Omani peak electricity demand during the summer. Thus, offshore wind turbines have great advantages over land-based wind turbines in Oman. Overall, this work provides guidance on the deployment and production of offshore wind energy in Oman. A thorough study using bankable wind data along with various logistical considerations would still be required to turn offshore wind potential into real wind farms in Oman.
KW - Data analysis
KW - Offshore wind energy
KW - Sultanate of Oman
KW - Wind assessment
KW - Wind turbine
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/63632231-5936-378c-929e-82c6a7a27034/
U2 - 10.3390/su13052862
DO - 10.3390/su13052862
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102713845
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 18
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
IS - 5
M1 - 2862
ER -