Wind Speed Simulation Using Wavelets

Abstract

Most of the renewable energy sources have direct or indirect link with the sun. Wind is also a form of solar energy. It is initiated by uneven heating of the atmospheric air by the sun, affected from the topography and surface roughness of the earth's surface and rotation of the earth. The earth's terrain, water surfaces and vegetation cover modifies wind flow patterns. Wind energy or wind power terms describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical energy or electricity. In view of this, there has been several studies of wind speed characteristics in different parts of the world using Weibull distribution and Fourier method of time series analysis. Wavelet methods invented in mid-eighties have attracted attention of Engineers, Physicists, Computer Scientists and Mathematicians alike for applications purposes in diverse fields. So much so that two prominent workers of this field Coifman and Daubechies have been given prestigious awards of U.S.A. in the year 2000 for their contribution in this field. In the present study we apply wavelet methods and related software to study wind speed data of certain places in Saudi Arabia.