Regional assessment of wind power in western Turkey by the cumulative semivariogram method

Regional patterns of wind energy potential along the western Aegean Sea coastal part of Turkey are evaluated by considering its regional variability through the use of cumulative semivariogram (CSV) models. This innovative technique provides clues about the regional variations along any direction. Since in the western Anatolian coast winds are predominantly northerly or east northerly or west northerly, the regional variability is investigated along the north-south direction. The CSV techniques yielded the radius of influence for wind velocity and Weibull distribution parameters. Dimensionless Standard Regional Dependence (SRD) functions are obtained from the sample CSV. These SRD functions help to make simple regional predictions for the wind energy or wind velocity distribution parameters. The methodology has been applied for predicting the wind velocity in Turkey along the Aegean sea coast. Similar predictions can be achieved for wind energy and Weibull distribution parameters. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.