A Feasibility Analysis of Wind Power Project in the Hunza Valley of Pakistan

Abstract

Wind resource potential is strongly influenced by the exposure, orientation of the terrain and the wind direction. In Pakistan, the northern areas have very attractive sites for wind power plants. However, due to non-standardized masts installed, the collected data are not reliable. Due to the unreliable nature of available data, the investors normally avoid the investing in the wind power projects. Various software and tools have been used so far for the feasibility analysis but due to unreliable data, the proper feasibility analysis is still out of sight. To overcome this deficiency, a feasibility study of a wind power project in the Hunza Valley of Pakistan using reliable data is presented in this paper. For this purpose, the RETScreen is used by exploiting the standard NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) database. Since the developing countries are facing problems in the development of wind projects, it is envisaged that this approach will give an easy way to launch new clean energy projects.