A techno-economic analysis for power generation through wind energy:A case study of Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan needs to overcome the cost of power generation and the ever-increasing demand for energy with environment-friendly renewable energy resources. Several research efforts have been made with the support of Pakistan Meteorological Department in the last two decades for wind resource assessment (WRA) across the country. However, the practical installation of wind farms is quite a fraction of the total forecast wind energy potential. In this feasibility, WRA of Umerkot and Sujawal districts located in Sindh provinces of Pakistan has been analyzed by analyzing mean wind speeds, estimated Weibull parameters, power and energy densities calculation for various heights of selected wind turbines. Further, this paper analyzes the overall energy potential for these locations with implementation cost and pay-back period for investment. These locations are selected by the World Bank initiative of wind profiling campaigns to record wind speed data during 2016 and 2018 with 10 min resolution. It is observed that Umerkot and Sujawal sites are suitable for energy production. The highest values of power and energy densities for Sujawal are 414.18 W/m2 and 3628.22 kWh/m2∕Yr and for Umerkot these values are 303.86 W/m2 and 2661.81 kWh/m2/Yr. The results indicate that using Nordex N90/2500 wind turbines are highly beneficial for Umerkot and Sujawal. The associated costs of energy are 0.074 $/kWh and 0.056 $kWh respectively and the payback period is estimated to be around 7 years with 20 years life time of the project. This work suggests the possibility of wind farm installation and commissioning based on power density calculation and cost of land acquisition. This work emphasizes the investment for wind farms at Sujawal and Umerkot for the sustainable growth of the country. This helps out policymakers for long term planning, development of wind energy projects and attracting investment for the country.