Diurnal characteristics of the wind potential along the North-Western coast of Senegal

This paper is aimed at determining the diurnal characteristics of the wind potential in Senegal. The data used in this study are collected from eight sites (Kayar, Potou, Gandon, Sine Moussa Abdou, Botla, Dara Andal, Nguebeul and Sakhor) located alongside the North-western coast of Senegal. These data cover the period of one year for each site. The annual wind speed distribution curves in all sites were obtained by using the Weibull distribution function. The results obtained show that the power density available is greater during the dry season than in the rainy season. In all sites, it appeared more important for the day-time than the night-time. For instance, the power density was 145.30 and 58.34 W/m2 at the height of 20 m in the day and night, respectively in the site of Potou; it reveals 99.64 and 52.35 W/m2 in the site of Kayar and 103.14 and 45.87 W/m2 in Gandon during the same period and the same height. The corresponding average wind speeds are of 5.69 and 4.15 m/s in Potou, 5.04 and 3.80 m/s in Kayar and 5.13 and 3.77 m/s in Gandon. © 2011 Academic Journals.