Analysis of a wind turbine project in the city of Bouar (Central African Republic)

Abstract

In this article, techno-economic analysis had been carried out on the generation of electricity from wind turbines in the city of Bouar, west of Central African Republic. Wind data, registered within a period of five years every 1 h at the aerodrome in Bouar, was used to carry out this work. Using WAsP as the software tool for statistical treatment of wind data, an average wind speed of 3.41 m/s, at a height of 10 m from the ground, was found. The Weibull's statistical parameters (shape parameter, k and scale parameter,c) were also determined, by extrapolation using the law of logarithm. A commercialized model of aerogenerator known as Nordex N27-150 was then used to determine its performance in the city of Bouar, with focus being on annual energy production. The economic aspect was approached using on the one hand analyses based on the data of the RETScreen Expert software package supplied by the Canadian government and on the other hand the PVC method (Present Value Cost). It resulted that the cost of production in the region for a kilowatt hour (kWh) is about $ 0.081/kWh.

Keywords

• Techno-economic analysis
• Wind
• PVC
• Bouar
• Republic of Central Africa