Potential and economic feasibility of wind energy in south West region of Algeria

The present research is focused on windfarm economic viability and wind power potential assessment by RETScreen and WAsP tools, respectively, for the South-West region of Algeria. This study considers the atlas development of wind characteristics analysis. Hourly mean wind data recorded during the years 2003 to 2008 by ONM "Office National de la Meteorologie" (the Algerian Meteorological Office), is used for the study. The mean wind speed, energy flux, the dominant wind direction, the frequency distribution, and the Weibull distribution scale and shape factors are determined and analyzed. Finally, RETScreen software is used to estimate the energy output and to conduct the economic feasibility of the wind farm in terms of Simple Payback Period (SPP), Internal Rate of Return, Annual Life Cycle Saving, Net Present Value, Year to Positive Cash Flow, Benefit-Cost ratio and cost of electricity production (COE). The economic analysis indicates that the project at Adrar region was economically viable with good energy production of 3146 MWh/yr and a Capacity Factor (CF) of 36%.The SPP was found to be around 3.9 years, and the COE of 3.25 US Cents/kWh was found lower than the wholesale price of electricity during the feed-in tariff period.