Abstract

Three-hourly wind speed data measured using the Beaufort scale at a height of 10m, from 6am to 6pm local time (5 periods per day), was obtained from the Bafoussam Airport. It was analyzed using the Weibull and Rayleigh probability density models and wind rose plots. It was determined that the lowest wind speeds (most calms) were observed during the first period (6am) and the highest at 3pm (fourth period). The very low morning wind speed adversely affected the daily mean wind speed. Better, but still poor, power density results were obtained at this fourth (3pm) period. The monthly and yearly mean speeds varied between 1.9 and 3.1m/s and with very low standard deviations. The wind rose plots also showed that all the significant winds fell in the first quadrant (NE) and predominantly on angle 10^o with some discernibly on 20^o and 30^o, only. Three goodness-of-fit tests: the chi square, coefficient of determination or R² and root mean square error, showed the Weibull to be a better fit to the wind regime than the Rayleigh model. The shape parameters were always greater than the scale parameters. Results show that, using the Weibull parameters, the power density of Bafoussam falls in the category 1 of the wind energy resource group and hence is not a very good wind energy exploitable candidate.

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