Front.

Energy 2011, 5(3): 297304

DOI 10.1007/s11708-010-0134-6

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Juma Yousuf ALAYDI

Assessment of wind energy potential in Gaza Strip

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

Abstract The analysis of collected wind data at two sites

in the Gaza Strip, namely, Gaza City and Gaza International Airport in Rafah city, is presented. The two sites are
candidates for remote area wind energy applications. The
purpose of this paper is to present the results of the
assessment of wind energy potential in the Gaza Strip in
order to evaluate the wind regimes for installing wind
energy conversion systems for power generation. The data
on wind speed, direction and frequency distribution are
used to analyze wind energy characteristics and availability
at some stations in the Gaza Strip. The vertical extrapolation was based on the power-law expression, and the wind
energy and potential have been estimated at the wind
turbine hub height of approximately 50 m. Furthermore,
the values of the Weibull parameters c and k are determined
from summary statistics of wind resource. Consequently,
the wind power is estimated by adoption of the Weibull
distribution expression. Based on the results of this paper,
sites are recommended for wind energy exploitation in the
Gaza Strip.
Keywords wind data, wind resource assessment, wind
power density, wind energy, the Weibull distribution and
Weibull parameters

Introduction

The Gaza Strip is a narrow strip stretching along the southeast corner of the Mediterranean. It borders Egypt on the
south-west as shown in Fig. 1. It is about 41 km (25 mi)
long, and between six and 12 km (47.5 mi) wide, with a
total area of 360 km2 (139 sq mi). It lies on Longitude
3426 east and Latitude 31 10 north of the equator. The
Gaza Strip is highly populated, with an estimated
population of 1.5 million. The average population density
Received June 10, 2010; accepted November 4, 2010

Juma Yousuf ALAYDI ( )

Industrial Engineering Department, IUG, Gaza, Palestine
E-mail: jalaydi@iugaza.edu

is 2330 people per square kilometers, while in the camps,

the density can rise to as high as 100000 people per square
kilometers. The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main
city. Gaza International Airport is located in Rafah,
southern part of the Gaza Strip, 36 km from Gaza City
and close to the Egyptian border. The Gaza Strip is
categorized as tropical region with a relatively hot summer
and mild winter.
The long-term wind speed measurements at a given
location provide fundamental and valuable information for
the assessment of wind power availability and the
economic viability of a wind energy conversion system,
as well as the technical design of such systems. Graphical
representations such as wind speed frequency histograms,
speed or wind power duration curves, monthly mean, and
diurnal variation of wind speed or power are common
ways of summarizing the wind data. The winds are
uctuant and vary from month to month, season to season,
and year to year. The increasing global population,
environmental pollution, and rapidly decreasing reserves
of fossil fuel have been matters of social and economic
concern to individuals, environmentalists, engineers,
meteorologists, scientists, and politicians for several
years. The power of wind is a clean, inexhaustible, and
free source of energy. This source has served humankind
for many centuries by propelling ships and driving wind
turbines to grind grain and pump water [1].
In spite of the high cost of wind power, as compared to
the cost of coal, nuclear, and other sources, it may
nevertheless grow to become a major source of energy in
time. Broadly speaking, a hybrid system, consisting of
wind and solar (photovoltaic) generators in combination
with a battery storage option, can be used for the power
supply of small electrical loads at remote locations [2].
Remote applications may include the supplying of
electricity to desalination plants, gas stations, pipeline
cathodic protection, telecommunication stations, alpine
huts, or remote stations for data logging of environmental
parameters, irrigation and water pumping, agribusiness
operations, etc. Gaza offers good opportunities for
harnessing the wind power to supply remote locations
that are not connected to the electrical power grid.

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Front. Energy 2011, 5(3): 297304

Fig. 1

For proper and efcient utilization of wind power,

knowledge of the statistical characteristics, persistence,
availability, diurnal variation, and prediction of wind speed
are very important. These wind characteristics are needed
for site selection, performance prediction, and the planning
of windmills. Of these characteristics, the statistical
analysis of historical wind data are of great importance
for site selection of wind machine installation. This
analysis also enables the selection of the optimal size of
a wind machine for a particular site [3].
The work on wind data collection in Gaza dates back to
1961. The rst published work on wind data by the Israel
Meteorological Service Ofce appeared in 19611). Not
1) Israel Meteorological Service, Israel Ministry of Transport

Gaza strip

much work is reported in literature on wind energy related

topics for this area. Shabbaneh et al. [4] calculated shape
and scale parameters of a Weibull density distribution
function for the West Bank in Palestine. Having performed
wind persistence and stochastic time series analysis of
wind data for several locations on the West Bank, they
found strong association between the correlograms and the
actual diurnal variation of hourly mean wind speed values
for all locations. They also concluded that stochastic
time series analysis is suitable for the description of
autoregressive models involving time lags of one and 24 h.
Mohandes et al. [5] used a neural networks technique to
predict the daily mean values of wind speed for some cities

Juma Yousuf ALAYDI. Wind energy potential in the Gaza Strip

in the region. They compared the predicted values with

those measured and those predicted by the auto regression
model and found that the neural networks predicted values
outperformed the auto regression predictions.
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the
assessment of wind energy potential in the Gaza Strip in
order to evaluate the wind regimes for installing wind
energy conversion systems for power generation. The data
on wind speed, direction, and frequency distribution were
used to analyze wind energy characteristics and availability
at some stations in the Gaza Strip. Since most of the
available wind data measurements were made at a height of
close to 10 m, these data were extrapolated to a height of
50 m. The vertical extrapolation was based on the powerlaw expression, and the wind energy and potential were
estimated at the wind turbine hub height of approximately
50 m. These estimations were based on the data from two
meteorological stations. Moreover, the values of the
Weibull parameters c and k were determined from
summary statistics of wind resource. Consequently, the
wind power was estimated by adoption of the Weibull
distribution expression. Based on the results of this paper,
suitable sites were identied and recommended for the
exploitation of wind energy in the Gaza Strip.

Pmax

Analysis methods

To evaluate the wind energy potential for the Gaza Strip,

and consequently the possible electricity generation, the
available meteorological data provided was used and
several mathematical equations needed for the calculations
were implemented.
Wind power density was chosen over wind speed since
the power density incorporates in a single number the
combined effect of wind speeds distribution and the
dependence of power on air density, as well as the cube of
wind speed. The wind power potential is dened as the
monthly, seasonal, or annual energy ux per unit time
through unit area perpendicular to wind direction.
The available wind potential Pa per unit area perpendicular to the wind stream is expressed by the kinetic energy
ux in Ref [6]. as
Pa 0:5v3 ,

(1)

where v is the wind speed, m/s; is the air density, kg/m3;

and Pa is the theoretical available wind potential, W/m2.
However, the extractable power depends on the efciency
of the wind energy conversion system. At least 40% of the
available wind power must be subtracted. The maximum
extractable power Pmax from a system working at its
optimum efciency is limited by a power coefcient called
the Betzs limit (0.593). This capacity factor makes the
maximum extractable power approximately 59.3% of the
theoretical wind power and is given by Ref [5]. as

0:593 3
v :
2

(2)

In cases where the wind data are summarized, the

average wind power density P is calculated from the
expression
P 8  d2 =4  Wind power density:
The power density carried by the wind is given in Ref
[4], as
N
1 X
P 
f v3 ,
2 i1 i i

(3)

where fi is the frequency of occurrence of wind in the i-th

class, N is the number of wind speed classes, and vi is the
median wind speed of the i-th class.
On the basis of average annual air temperature T (K) and
air pressure p (Pa) for each station, the value of was
calculated according to the ideal gas law in Ref [6]:
 0:3483p=T :

(4)

is 1.195 kg/m .
3

2.1

299

Wind energy

The wind energy output depends on the overall turbine

efciency , the cut-in and cut-out wind speeds, the
rated wind speeds, the duration of each wind speed
regime Ti, and the height at which the turbine is
installed.
Wind speed generally increases with the height above
the surface of the earth. It is well known that vertical
extrapolation of wind speed in the rst 100 m above the
ground depends on the characteristics of the surface and
the atmospheric stability. The most common expression for
the variation of wind speed with height is the power law of
the following form:
 m
v2
z
2 ,
(5)
v1
z1
where v2 and v1 are the mean wind speed at heights z2 and
z1, respectively. The exponent m depends on such factors
as surface roughness and atmospheric stability. Numerically, m lies in the range of 0.050.5, with the most
frequently adopted value being 1/7 (widely applicable to
low surface roughness and well exposed sites). Using this
value for m, the measured values of wind speed were
extrapolated to 50 m, the hub height of the wind turbine.
Most modern wind turbines are usually installed at a height
of 50 m; hence the wind speed at 50 m can be found using
Eq. (6) with v2 the wind speed at the turbine hub height, z2
= 50 m, and vl the wind speed at the anemometer height, z1
= 10 m.
The Weibull distribution plays an important role in all

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Front. Energy 2011, 5(3): 297304

calculations of wind energy potential. This distribution is

mathematically expressed in Ref [8]. as
 
 k !
k v k 1
v
f v
exp
k > 0, c > 0 : (6)
c c
c
Technical specication of wind turbines must also be
included into Eq. (6) in addition to the Weibull distribution; therefore, the power equation becomes:
PGen

!cut in f vPvdv,
cut out

(7)

where P (v) is the power curve of the wind turbine.

The annual energy production Wh/m2 is calculated using
Eq. (8):
Eannual 24  365PGen :

(8)

Wind energy, kW$h/(m $a), estimates are determined by

the following relation in Ref [7].
2

N
1 X
E Cp  v3i ti  10 3 ,
2 i1

(9)

The two parameters c and k can be used in estimating the

monthly or annual wind power density by


1 3
3
p c 1
:
(13)
2
k
The following is a method for the Weibull parameters
estimation.
The Weibull distribution has a cumulative distribution
function of
  
v k
M v 1 exp
:
(14)
c
By taking the natural logarithm of both sides of Eq. (14),
Eq. (15) can be obtained:
lnf ln1 M vg klnv klnc:

where vi is the midpoint wind speed for the i-th interval; ti

is the corresponding duration of the wind speed in the
interval, ti = tfi /100; t is the number of hours in the year, t =
8760 h for a whole year; fi is the percentage frequency
distribution; is the overall efciency taken as 25% for the
wind energy converter; and Cp is the power coefcient,
with the value of 0.405 [7].
2.2

where is the gamma distribution. Also, the variance 2 of

wind speeds about the mean speed is related to both k and
c by
 
  
 
2
1 2
2
2
 c 1
:
(12)
1
k
k

Assuming that the observed wind speeds are divided

into N speed intervals of 0 v1, v1 v2, ..., vn 1 vn, having
frequencies of occurrences of fl, f2, ..., fn, and cumulative
frequencies of M1 = f1, M2 = M1 + f2, M3 = M2 + f3, ..., MN
= MN 1 + fN, respectively, if the values of X = lnv are
plotted against Y = ln { ln [1 M(v)]}, then Eq. (15)
transforms to the linear form of
Y a bX :

The Weibull distribution

Measurements of wind speed distribution or frequency

distribution are used if available. If not, the wind speed
distribution can be represented by other analytical
distribution functions for the occurrence of wind speeds.
One of these functions is the Weibull distribution function
that has been proposed by some researchers. This
analytical distribution for tting wind speed data are
generally accepted for wind power analysis.
The Weibull distribution is expressed mathematically by
a frequency function f (v) in Refs [810]. as
 
 k !
k v k 1
v
f v
exp
k > 0, c > 0,
c c
c
(10)
where k is a dimensionless shape factor and c is a scale
factor, with unit of speed m/s. These two parameters k and
c are closely related to the mean value of the wind speed vm
as [8]


1
vm c 1
,
(11)
k

(15)

(16)

After the equation of regression line (16) is determined,

a straight line is tted to the points, the slope of which
is b. Thus, the Weibull parameters c and k may be
computed by
 a
c exp ,
(17)
b
k b:

(18)

Results and discussion

The total wind energy potential for Gaza was evaluated.

Spreadsheet data analysis was designed to allow the
operator to have a wide range of options, especially over
the turbine types and their efciencies. The rst part
processes and calculates the main parameters v, P and E
directly from the available data, which is considered to be
essential for the following evaluation of the wind energy
potential and the produced electricity. The following
relations clarify the logarithmic relations used for the
wind energy potential calculations:

Juma Yousuf ALAYDI. Wind energy potential in the Gaza Strip

301

Average power intercepted per km2

8

d 2
 Wind power density,
4

Average power output

Average power intercepted  0:25  1 0:25,
Annual energy production
Average power output  24  365:

(19)

Considering that the number of turbines per km2 equals

8 with a diameter of d = 50 m, efciency and energy loss
are equal to 0.25 each (the energy losses caused by turbine
wakes, blade soiling and electrical losses caused by
transformation and collection systems, etc).
The second part calculates the electricity produced from
a wind farm by using dened wind turbines with known
output power-speed curve.
3.1

Diurnal variation of wind speed

The overall diurnal variation of wind speed with time is

important to take into consideration when assessing
condence regarding the availability of wind during
different hours of the day. The diurnal hourly mean values
of wind speed are calculated by the entire data collected
and the results are summarized in Figs. 2 and 3.

Fig. 3 Diurnal variation of wind speed in Gaza in winter

(January March)

hourly-recorded data at 10 m above the ground for the two

sites. Thus, if a large share of wind comes from a particular
direction, the wind machines should be constructed facing
in this direction.
To construct and analyze the frequency distribution, all
hourly average values of wind speed and wind direction
were used. Figure 4 shows the wind frequency chart and
the percentage of time the wind speed stayed at the
different speed for the Rafah site. All the hourly data
recorded at a height of 10 m above ground was used for the
generating of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 Wind directions for Rafah during year 2002

3.3 Overall yearly variation of wind speed and wind power

density
Fig. 2 Diurnal variation of wind speed in Gaza in summer (July
September)

Gaza City experiences wind speed peaks during the

hours 9:0019:00, which makes wind energy a potential
tool for electrical peak shaving during the hours.
3.2

Wind speed frequency distribution

To obtain information about the number of hours during

which the wind remains in a certain direction, the
frequency distribution analysis was conducted for the

Table 1 contains the wind data measured for Gaza City and
Rafah, as well as the overall monthly hourly mean wind
speeds (m/s) and power density (W/m2). Figure 5
illustrates the average wind speed frequency and probability distribution of wind speed respectively. The overall
monthly variation of mean wind speed and wind power
density provides information on the availability of wind
during different months of the year. The overall monthly
maximum and mean values of hourly wind speed at a
height of 50 m during the collection periods and the
corresponding mean values of wind power densities are
listed in Table 1. It can be seen from Table 1 that Gaza has

302

Table 1

Front. Energy 2011, 5(3): 297304

Overall monthly hourly mean wind speed (m/s) and power density (W/m2) for the two stations during the collection periods at 50 m above

the ground
Gaza city
Power density/(W$m2)

Wind speed/(m$s1)

Month

Rafah

Max

Mean

Jan.

24.4

4.9

Feb.

22.7

Mar.

Power density/(W$m2)

Wind speed/(m$s1)
Max

Mean

230.1

10.5

4.4

123.1

4.5

127.3

15.2

4.9

227.8

23.9

4.8

229.6

19.2

3.1

78.7

Apr.

19.6

3.2

60.3

8.6

2.76

48.1

May

20

3.9

176.1

9.7

2.52

41.6

Jun.

15.1

3.5

165.6

8.6

2.23

30.5

Jul

23.7

3.8

226.7

1.83

19.6

Aug.

17.2

3.5

166.1

10.5

2.2

28.1

Sept.

16.6

4.8

114.8

12.2

2.23

29.1

Oct.

16.5

4.3

109.3

16.5

2.64

34.3

Nov.

16.4

4.8

175.3

16.2

3.23

64.1

Dec.

17.3

5.1

178.9

20.1

4.05

110.4

Annual

23.9

4.2

1960.1

20.1

3.01

835.4

an annual mean wind speed of 4.2 m/s, while Rafah a speed

of 3.01 m/s.
These two sites are quite remote and have isolated,
scattered population areas that increase the economical
feasibility of utilizing wind energy at these locations.
Furthermore, the monthly mean wind speed for Gaza
exceeds 4 m/s for eight months of the year, reaching above
4.5 m/s for a few months of the year. For Rafah the
monthly means exceed 3.5 m/s for ve months and surpass
2.5 m/s for 10 months of the year. At the two sites the wind
speed is higher during the winter months when electrical
load is high at such cold climates. In Gaza the wind speed
stays above 5 m/s for 4 h (17%) of the day, above 4 m/s for
6 h of the day (25%) and above 3 m/s for 9 h of the day
(38%). In Rafah the wind speed stays above 4 m/s for 5 h
(21%) and above 5 m/s for 10 h (30%) during the day.
Table 2 presents the annual values of the two Weibull
parameters, the scale parameter c (m/s) and the shape
parameter k (dimensionless), for two meteorological
stations. The values of c and k were determined using

the method described in Section 2.2. The values of c and k

in conjunction with Eqs. (10)(18) are applied to estimate
the wind power for the two stations.
The Weibull durations of speed and power density are
plotted using the annual mean of 3.01 m/s and are
illustrated in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 Wind speed and power duration curves based on the

Weibull distribution at an annual speed of 3.01 m/s at 50 m above
ground

Table 2 Annual values of scale parameter c (m/s), shape parameters k

and wind power density (W/m2) for the two stations
Scale parameter
/(m$s1)

Shape parameter

Power density
/(W$m2)

Gaza city

1.9

3.52

186.5

Rafah

1.3

2.85

69.6

Wind energy calculations

The available wind energies E(MW$h/km2) that could be

extracted from rotors of unit area at a height of 50 m above
ground for the two stations under observation are

Juma Yousuf ALAYDI. Wind energy potential in the Gaza Strip

calculated by Eqs. (9) and (19). The results, together with

the annual values for the two stations, are listed in Tables 3
and 4.
The annual energy that can be generated at the two sites
by a Nordex N43/600 wind machine was obtained by wind
power curve of the machine considering the number of
turbines per square kilometers equals 8 with a diameter of
d = 50 m, efciency and energy loss are equal to 0.25 each
[11]. The technical data of the power extracted from the
Table 3
Month

303

specied wind machine are summarized in Table 3. Since

the hub height of the wind machine is 50 m, the hourly
mean wind speed values were calculated at that height
using 1/7th power law. Table 4 shows a comparison of
the annual energy that can be generated using the Nordex
N43. The calculated annual energy production is about
4800 and 1800 MW$h/km2 at Gaza City and Rafah
respectively.
As can be seen in Table 4, a tremendous amount of

Calculated wind energy potential for Gaza City

2

Average power intercepted/(MW$km )

Average power output/(MW$km )

Annual energy production/(MW$h$km )

Jan.

3.61

6.77E + 05

5.93E + 03

Feb.

1.99

3.74E + 05

3.28E + 03

Mar.

3.60

6.74E + 05

5.91E + 03

Apr.

9.42

1.77E + 05

1.55E + 03

May

2.76

5.18E + 05

4.54E + 03

Jun.

2.59

4.86E + 05

4.26E + 03

Jul

3.55

6.66E + 05

5.83E + 03

Aug.

2.61

4.89E + 05

4.28E + 03

Sept.

1.79

3.36E + 05

2.94E + 03

Oct.

1.71

3.21E + 05

2.81E + 03

Nov.

2.75

5.15E + 05

4.52E + 03

Dec.

2.80

5.24E + 05

4.59E + 03

Annual

2.92

5.48E + 05

4.80E + 03

Table 4
Month

Calculated wind energy potential for Rafah

2

Average power intercepted/(MW$km )

Average power output/(W$km )

Annual energy production/(MW$h$km )

Jan.

1.93

3.62E + 05

3.17E + 03

Feb.

3.58

6.71E + 05

5.88E + 03

Mar.

1.24

2.32E + 05

2.03E + 03

Apr.

0.755

1.41E + 05

1.24E + 03

May

0.654

1.23E + 05

1.07E + 03

Jun.

0.479

8.97E + 04

0.786E + 03

Jul.

0.308

5.78E + 04

0.506E + 03

Aug.

0.441

8.28E + 04

0.725E + 03

Sept.

0.456

8.55E + 04

0.749E + 03

Oct.

0.539

1.01E + 05

80.85E + 03

Nov.

1.01

1.89E + 05

1.65E + 03

Dec.

1.73

3.25E + 05

2.85E + 03

Annual

1.09

2.05E + 05

1.80E + 03

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Front. Energy 2011, 5(3): 297304

electricity can be generated by the wind. However, due to

technical and environmental factors including type of
turbines, land availability and land topology, public
acceptance, and access and transmission constraints, only
a fraction of this potential can be exploited economically.

Conclusion

This paper analyzed the wind energy potential at two sites

in the Gaza Strip. The data used in the calculation are
published for the rst time and were collected for the
purpose of studying the wind energy potential in these
sites.
The site of Gaza City has higher wind energy potential
than the other site, with an annual average wind speed of
4.2 m/s and a speed higher than 5.0 m/s for approximately
60% of the time. The site of Gaza International Airport at
Rafah is second in wind energy potential, with an annual
average wind speed of 3.01 m/s and a speed higher than
4.0 m/s for approximately 47% of the time. The two sites
have isolated, scattered, and low population areas that
increase the economical feasibility of utilizing wind energy
at these locations for remote area applications. The
estimated energy that can be produced from a Nordex
N43 is 4800 and 1800 MW$h/km2 at Gaza City and Rafah
respectively.

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