Wind Resource Assessment

Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction Bangladesh has a 724 lm long coastal area where south-westerly tradewind & sea breeze makes the usage of wind as a renewable energy source very visible. But, not much systematic wind study has been made, adequate information on the wind speed over the country and particularly on wind speeds at hub heights of wind machines is not available. A previous study (1986) showed that for the wind monitoring stations of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) the wind speed is found to be low near the ground level at heights of around 10 meter. Chittagong – Cox’s Bazar seacoast and coastal off-shore islands appeared to have better wind speeds. Measurements at 20m and 30m heights have been made later on by BCAS, GTZ and BCSIR. WERM project of LGED for measurements at the height of 20 and 30m were carried out for 20 locations all over Bangladesh (1). The apparent features are that wind speeds exhibit strong seasonal cycle, lower in the September to February period and higher in summer (March to August).Secondly, Wind speeds exhibit a diurnal cycle, generally peaking in the afternoon and weakest at night (the trends are also similar in West Bengal, India). (2) The study done by Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) has pointed out some favourable locations which can be exploited for wind power production. The government has made some plans regarding establishments in these areas which were published in the country report. One of the most eligible locations to use the wind power is Cox’s bazaar district, which has an area of 2491.86 km². It is located at 21°35′0″N 92°01′0″E.

The major sources to meet out the demand of power consumption around the globe have been petroleum, Coal, Gas. But, they cannot be reused and therefore limited and becoming more costly day by day. Over the years, energy sources have become key figures in the socio-economic changes around the world. Plus, the