Estimating Weibull Parameters for Wind Energy Applications using Seven Numerical Methods: Case studies of three costal sites in West Africa

In this study, the effectiveness of seven numerical methods is evaluated to determine the shape (K) and scale (C) parameters of Weibull distribution function for the purpose of calculating the wind speed characteristics and wind power density. The selected methods are graphical method (GPM), empirical method of Justus (EMJ), empirical method of Lysen (EML), energy pattern factor method (EPFM), maximum likelihood method (MLM) moment method (MOM) and the proposed. Hybrid method (HM) derived from EPFM and EMJ. The purpose is to identify the most appropriate method for computing the mean wind speed, wind speed standard deviation and wind power density for different costal locations in West Africa. Three costal sites (Lomé, Accra and Cotonou) are selected. The input data was collected, from January 2004 to December 2015 for Lomé site, from January 2009 to December 2015 for Accra site and from January 2009 to December 2012 for Cotonou. The results indicate that the precision of the computed mean wind speed, wind speed standard deviation and wind power density values change when different parameters estimation methods are used. Five of them which are EMJ, EML, EPF, MOM, ML, and HM method present very good accuracy while GPM shows weak ability for all three sites.