Wind Energy Mapping in Al Batinah Region Using Data Mining Techniques

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are cheap to produce and have no upfront costs. It can take many different forms, including solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, oceanic, and biological. There are numerous renewable energy resources in Oman, especially wind and solar. The kinetic energy of moving air is transformed into electrical energy to create wind power. This electrical energy has been used to pump water from the sea to tiny artificial ponds close to the wind farms, where the water is desalinated, used for agriculture, and then stored. The research attempts to identify the best locations for windmills that transfer seawater to small ponds. The various parameters are considered to select a suitable site for wind energy mapping, such as wind speed, elevation, distance to the main road, distance to an urban area, and land cover or land use. In order to choose appropriate locations for windmill mapping, data mining techniques are used. Based on parameters applied to classification and clustering techniques, a few wind mill sites are identified as suitable.