Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Wind energy resource mapping of Palestine

A. De Meij a,n, J.-F. Vinuesa a, V. Maupas a, J. Waddle a, I. Price a, B. Yaseen b,c, A. Ismail b,c
a
b
c

NOVELTIS, 153, Rue du Lac, F-31670 Labge, France

Palestinian Energy Authority, Al Irsal Str. Al Masayef, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
Palestinian Energy and Environment Research Center, Al Irsal Str. Al Masayef, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 20 February 2015
Received in revised form
26 November 2015
Accepted 30 November 2015

This study presents the analysis of the climatology of the wind prole over the State of Palestine,
together with the selection of the typical meteorological year, the wind power density and the annual
energy production. This climatology is based on a 12-year simulation (20002011) using the numerical
weather prediction model WRF. Our analysis of the wind proles showed that the highest yearly average
wind speeds are calculated for 2003, while the lowest yearly average wind speeds are calculated for
2008. For Gaza and West Bank region the highest wind speeds are observed during the winter period and
the prevailing wind direction is westerly for both Gaza and West Bank.
An analysis of the statistics on the wind climatology showed that the year 2011 can be considered as a
typical meteorological year. In general, the wind speeds for the Gaza region are the highest closest to the
sea, while more inland lower wind speeds are found. Over the elevated terrain of the central part of the
West Bank region the highest wind speeds are calculated. The analysis of the comparison of the calculated wind speeds with the observations shows that for 16 out of 20 stations the relation
RMSEmod oSTDEVobs is valid, which is one of the conditions for good quality modeling results. The
variations of wind power density and AEP over a 12-year period (20002011) are rather low in Gaza and
West Bank. The AEP at 80 m shows that the zone east of Hebron is the most suitable area in West Bank.
Wind potential all over Gaza is unfortunately not enough to be considered at any level.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Wind atlas
Wind energy resource assessment
Wind power
Palestine

Contents
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tools and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.
Model description and conguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.
Power density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4.
Annual energy production (AEP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Climatology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Typical meteorological year (TMY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.
Selection TMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.
Wind prole 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.
Evaluation of the TMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wind power resource in Palestine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.
Wind speed and power density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.
Wind resource potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.
Annual energy production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alexander.demeij@noveltis.fr (A. De Meij).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.090
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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6. Conclusion . . .
Acknowledgments .
Annex . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . .

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

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1. Introduction
Palestine lie on the western edge of the Asian continent and the
eastern extremity of the Mediterranean Sea, between 34200
35300 E and 31100 3230N. Palestine elevation ranges from
300 m below sea level in the Jordan Valley, to sea level along the
Gaza Strip seashore, reaching 1000 m above sea level in some
locations in the West Bank. The total population is about 4.4 million (census 2012, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics) of which
2.47 million live in the West Bank and about 1.7 million in the
Gaza Strip. The population growth rate is about 3.0% and the
average household size is about 5.6 persons.
More than 90% of the Palestinian electric power is supplied by
neighboring countries and renewable energy source represents
about 27% of the total energy supply with 43% of solar energy and
the rest from biomass energy [1]. In presenting possibilities to
reduce this dependency on external energy sources [2] mentioned
that since the fossil fuels resources are rather limited, the development of renewable energy sector is foreseen the most advantageous solution to meet the increasing energy demand. Moreover,
Abu Hamed et al. [1] concluded that 25% of the energy demand
could be provided by renewable energy generation. Within the
three main available resources accessible in Palestinian territories,
i.e. solar, wind and biomass, solar energy shows the most potential
with high level of radiation high sunshine hours throughout the
year. The horizontal yearly average daily solar radiation is about
5.6 kW h/m2 with  3000 h of sunshine [3]. Even if grouping
Palestine and Israel in the low wind speed region of the Middle
East, Shawon et al. [4] mentioned the potential of specic locations
and possible use of small wind turbines. Furthermore, Ismael et al.
[2] states that these small wind turbines are particularly attractive
to supply energy to sites located far from the grid.
Only a few studies related to wind energy potential were performed in the past. They are mainly focused on historical data and
data coming from automated meteorological stations. Shabbaneh
and Hasan [5] used measurements from 1940 to 1983 to investigate wind potential over Palestine. The data used for West Bank
and Gaza were recorded in Beaufort Force scale and collected
between 1940 and 1947. They calculated shape and scale parameters of a Weibull density distribution function for West bank in
Palestine. They found the highest wind potential areas in West
Bank, and in particular in the Hebron area and north of Ramallah.
Focusing on Gaza strip, Alaydi [6,7] used hourly wind-speed
data recorded at automated meteorological station to investigate
wind energy potential. The site of Gaza showed the highest
potential with an annual wind speed of 4.2 m/s though extrapolated by a power-law to 50 m.
Recently, Badawi [8] proposed a new strategy based on an
analytical approach to estimate wind potential. This strategy is
based on building a Weibull curve for parts of the territories, e.g.
Gaza strip, and then calculating the energy curve from it. Still this
method is based on local measurements but it shows similar
results in term of potential as previous studies.
Renewable energy (RE) resource mapping and geospatial analysis is increasingly being recognized as a crucial component to
scaling up the deployment of RE in a way that is sensitive to
environmental and social constraints [9,10]. Thus, the World
Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is

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561
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supporting an initiative to support RE resource mapping activities

in developing countries in recognition of the need for high quality,
country-level resource mapping and geospatial planning.
In this paper, we present the wind atlas for the Eastern part of
the Mediterranean focusing on the Palestine region, together with
the power density and annual energy production for the Gaza and
West Bank. For the rst time a modeling approach based on a
mesoscale model is used to estimate wind potential over Palestine.
Moreover, since the methodology and result analysis are based on
the recommendations set in the Best Practice Guidelines for
Mesoscale Wind Mapping projects for the World Bank [9], this
work can be of tremendous interest for decision makers and
investors.
In Section 2 the tools and the method are presented. In Section
3 the results of the calculated climatology are discussed while the
evaluation of the typical meteorological year is presented in Section 4. Wind power density and annual energy production are
analyzed in Section 5. We nish in Section 6 with the conclusions.

2. Tools and methods

2.1. Model description and conguration
In this study we used the Advanced Research WRF system
(WRF-ARW V3.3.1), which is in the public domain and is freely
available for community use (http://www.wrf-model.org/index.
php). A detailed description of the model can be found in Wang
et al. [11]. WRF uses meteorological initial conditions and lateral
boundary conditions from 6 h analyses from the NCEP Climate
Forecasting System Reanalysis (CFSR); pressure levels 0.5  0.5
horizontal resolution and surface input parameters (e.g. specic
humidity, temperature, u-component wind, v-component wind,
ice-cover, land-cover, etc.) on  0.3  0.3 horizontal resolution.
Data produced during pre-processing and modeling simulations of
WRF are in the Lambert conformal projection. The time step of
output data has been set to 1 h. The vertical discretization involves
27 levels up to 17.5 km. The parameterization schemes used to
perform the simulations are described in Table 1.
2.2. Methodology
WRF operates on 12  12 km (D1) and 3  3 km (D2) resolution,
see Fig. 1. Two simulations were performed with no nudging to the
observations. The rst simulation was performed on the
12  12 km resolution between 2000 and 2011 (12 years) to calculate the climatology and determine the typical meteorological
year (TMY). The second simulation was performed on 3  3 km for
the TMY. For the typical meteorological year we used the nesting
capacities of the mesoscale model to allow a physical downscaling
Table 1
Specications of WRF physical parameterization.
Radiation
PBL Physics
Microphysics
Cumulus

RRTM scheme
Yonsei University (YSU) scheme
WRF single-moment 6-class microphysics scheme
KainFritsch scheme

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Fig. 1. Map of the location of the domains; big domain D1 (12  12 km) and smaller domain D2 (3  3 km). Photo courtesy Google Earth mapping service.

Fig. 2. Power curve for the Northern Power NPS 100-24, pitch-controlled, IEC class III/S turbine.

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A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

of the atmospheric ow down to a 3  3 km spatial resolution and

a 1-hour temporal resolution. This system uses global large scale
data in order to account for the climatology and the synoptic
patterns and ne resolution data for topography and land-use to

Table 2
Climatology of the monthly mean wind speeds (based on 20002011), together
with standard deviation.
Month

JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Average

Climatology Hebron (m/s)

Stdev
(m/s)

Climatology Gaza
City (m/s)

Stdev (m/
s)

4.71
5.06
4.18
4.76
4.58
4.49
4.27
4.01
3.80
3.39
3.43
4.02
4.22

2.25
2.38
2.18
2.10
2.05
1.80
1.71
1.53
1.47
1.47
1.62
1.94
1.87

4.43
4.52
4.18
3.89
3.26
2.73
2.52
2.40
2.52
2.67
3.16
3.85
3.34

2.20
2.40
2.11
1.95
1.97
1.76
1.67
1.67
1.67
1.57
1.54
1.90
1.87

account for local mesoscale effects such as sea and mountain

breezes.
2.3. Power density
Following ESMAP guidelines [9], the wind power density is
calculated (see Eq. (1)) using industry standard formula (wind
power.org/en/knowledge/windpower_wiki.html). The wind power
density (pd in W/m2) is calculated from the wind speed and the air
density at the hub level.
pd

1
 Rho  ws3
2

Air density (Rho) varies according to elevation and time. Wind

velocities outside of the usual operational range of the wind turbine (cut-in speed of 3 m/s and cut-off speed of 25 m/s) were set
to zero and then average for each cell is calculated.
2.4. Annual energy production (AEP)
Recommended by ESMAP [9], an annual energy production (AEP)
map displays for each cell the wind energy that would be produced
by an actual wind turbine over a typical year. Although it is the most
comprehensive representation for non-wind energy specialists, the

Fig. 3. Climatology of wind speed (blue line) for Hebron (a) and Gaza City (b) together with the standard deviation. The climatology is based on period 20002011. The red
line represents the monthly mean wind speeds ( standard deviation) for the year 2011 for Hebron and Gaza, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to color in
this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Table 3
Mean wind speeds together with standard deviation for each month based on
climatology (20002011) and for the year 2011 for Hebron and Gaza City.
Month

Climatology
(20002011) Hebron (m/s)

Stdev
(m/s)

(%)
Monthly mean Stdev
2011 (m/
Hebron 2011
s)
(m/s)

JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Average

4.71
5.06
4.18
4.76
4.58
4.49
4.27
4.01
3.80
3.39
3.43
4.02
4.22

2.25
2.38
2.18
2.10
2.05
1.80
1.71
1.53
1.47
1.47
1.62
1.94
1.87

4.11
5.13
4.75
4.85
4.66
4.62
4.09
4.04
3.46
3.19
3.48
3.89
4.19

Month

Climatology
(20002011) Gaza
City (m/s)

Stdev
(m/s)

Monthly mean
Gaza City 2011
(m/s)

(%)
Stdev
2011 (m/
s)

JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Average

4.43
4.52
4.18
3.89
3.26
2.73
2.52
2.40
2.52
2.67
3.16
3.85
3.34

2.20
2.40
2.11
1.95
1.97
1.76
1.67
1.67
1.67
1.57
1.54
1.90
1.87

4.07
4.59
4.43
3.89
3.50
2.79
2.51
2.45
2.42
2.97
3.31
3.74
3.39

1.97
2.25
2.29
1.67
1.78
1.38
1.24
1.24
1.31
1.47
1.54
1.77
1.66

2.30
2.90
2.59
2.51
2.21
1.91
1.77
1.72
1.54
1.52
1.91
2.09
2.08

 14.6
1.5
11.9
1.9
1.8
2.8
 4.4
0.8
 9.8
 6.1
1.5
 3.3
 1.3

 8.7
1.6
5.6
0.1
6.9
2.0
 0.4
2.2
 4.0
10.1
4.6
 3.2
1.4

Fig. 4. Yearly average wind prole for 2011 for Domain 2. For clarity purposes we
recalculated the 3  3 km to 6  6 km. The colors indicate the wind speed (m/s) and
the vectors the wind direction. (For interpretation of the references to color in this
gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

information is only valid for that specic wind turbine and could vary
considerably if another turbine was selected. The gross AEP is calculated by adding the instant power of the turbine at each time step
for the duration of the TMY year. The instant power is determined
from the turbine manufacturer's power curve.
Due to technical and geo-political constraints, in this paper the
turbine has been chosen from a short-list characterized by a power
smaller than 225 W, a hub height lower than 40 m, a yaw system
and an IEC class III. The selected turbine is the Northern Power
NPS 100-24, pitch-controlled, IEC class III/S turbine, designed for
medium strength wind (Fig. 2).
A cubic interpolation is made on the whole curve to correctly
process non-integer wind speed values. Since the power curve is

555

valid for standard air density (1.225 kg/m3), an air density correction
is applied for each time step with actual air density values coming
from the meso scale model. The AEP is expressed in MW h per year.
The net AEP is calculated from the gross AEP accounting for loss
factors such as rotor coefcient of power, mechanical and electrical
conversion losses, blade soiling losses, array losses, and machine
availability. Because this information is too much dependant on
turbine types and site locations, this work provides only the
gross AEP.

3. Climatology
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are situated in a subtropical
region. The climate is characterized by hot and dry summers and
cool rainy winters. The wet season extends from October to early
May, and precipitation peaks in December through February.
During winter time, several synoptic systems dominate the
eastern part of the Mediterranean which are responsible for precipitation events and frequent natural dust intrusions. The most
dominant is the Cyprus Low cyclone system, which develops when
the relatively warm sea surface temperatures in spring/fall/winter
over the eastern part of the Mediterranean basin gets in contact
with the colder air. The centre of the Cyprus Low is located
between Cyprus and the Syrian coastline.
Other synoptic scale systems that contribute to weather in the
eastern part of the Mediterranean are the Sharav cyclone (also called
the Saharan Depression or Khamsin Depression) and the Red-Sea
trough. The Sharav cyclone develops under special circumstances in
spring over the Atlas Mountains and moves eastwards along the
North Atlantic coast and turn to the north near the south-eastern
Mediterranean. The Red Sea Trough is a tongue of low pressure
extending northward from the southern Red Sea towards the eastern
part of the Mediterranean. The Red Sea Trough is most frequently
observed during fall and spring. The Red Sea Trough is associated
with hot and dry weather conditions over south-eastern Mediterranean, resulting from east-south-easterly ows in the lower part of
the atmosphere [12] and references therein.
Another synoptic system that is responsible for the innerannual variability of moisture over the southeastern Mediterranean is the pressure difference between the Azores High and
Icelandic Low pressure systems, known as North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The NAO is most prominently during boreal winter and
it manifests by changes in the meridional atmospheric pressure
difference between the sub-polar and sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean.
When NAO is strong less moisture and desert dust aerosols are
observed in the southeastern Mediterranean, implying a negative
correlation between the observed dust aerosols and the NAO [13].
High NAO index winters exhibit drier conditions over much of
central and southern Europe, the Mediterranean and parts of the
Middle East [13,14]. Other synoptic systems such as the Persian
Trough, High over Israel and High to the East are less dominant in
regulating the weather of the eastern Mediterranean [15].
In Table 2, the climatology values based on the simulations on
12  12 km for the period 20002011 (average wind speed [m/s])
are presented.
Over the Palestine the highest wind speeds are calculated during
the rst half of the year (January, February and April). For instance, for
Hebron the highest wind speed is calculated for February with a
monthly average wind speed of 5.0672.38 m/s. The lowest wind
speeds are calculated during the summer and autumn (2.4071.67 m/
s for Gaza City in August). Over the whole model domain, the highest
wind speeds are in general calculated during the winter period (JanuaryApril and November, December) between Turkey and Cyprus
and over the central part of Syria during July and August.

556

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Fig. 5. Monthly average wind proles for 2011 for Domain 2. For clarity purposes we recalculated the 3  3 km to 6  6 km. The colors indicate the wind speed (m/s) and the
vectors the wind direction. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

557

Table 4
Statistics the wind speed at 10 m height.
Station number

Lon.

Lat.

Alt (m)

Mean obs (m/s)

Stdev obs (m/s)

Mean model (m/s)

Stdev model (m/s)

MBE

MAE

MRE

STDE

RMSE

400800
401530
401790
401800
401830
402550
402600
402650
402700
402720
403600
623370
JEN00001
TUL00002
NAB00003
RAM00004
JER00005
BET00007
HEB00008
DUM0009

33.42
32.97
32.00
32.00
31.77
32.55
32.20
32.37
31.98
31.72
31.40
31.08
35.30
35.02
35.25
35.20
35.45
35.20
35.10
35.37

36.52
35.50
34.82
34.90
35.22
35.85
37.13
36.25
35.98
35.98
37.28
33.82
32.47
32.32
32.22
31.88
31.85
31.70
31.53
32.05

609
934
35
49
815
616
674
683
779
722
504
32
178
83
570
856
 260
773
1005
595

4.47
4.77
2.78
2.97
3.24
3.15
5.22
3.83
3.39
4.80
4.39
2.45
3.80
3.24
3.24
5.64
2.71
3.24
4.69
3.68

3.10
2.39
1.62
1.56
1.51
1.87
3.18
2.44
2.03
2.92
2.88
1.49
2.61
2.01
1.71
3.09
1.73
1.86
2.39
2.60

3.84
4.14
2.64
2.62
4.03
5.40
5.41
4.81
5.97
4.21
4.87
4.10
3.11
2.73
4.24
4.19
3.38
4.42
4.39
3.72

2.49
1.80
1.47
1.37
2.36
3.16
3.30
2.97
3.53
2.60
2.69
2.10
1.91
1.66
2.15
2.16
1.98
2.21
2.12
2.63

 0.59
 0.62
 0.14
 0.09
0.78
1.12
0.06
0.61
1.68
 0.43
0.42
1.53
 0.70
 0.51
0.99
 1.46
0.67
1.19
 0.30
0.03

1.52
1.71
0.93
0.28
1.78
1.32
1.18
1.22
1.84
1.13
1.30
1.77
2.04
1.72
2.27
3.03
1.78
1.85
2.21
2.04

 0.16
 0.13
 0.05
 0.12
0.24
0.65
0.02
0.24
0.78
 0.13
0.11
0.60
 0.18
 0.16
0.31
 0.26
0.25
0.37
 0.06
0.01

2.10
2.12
1.26
0.73
2.04
1.91
2.02
1.82
2.23
1.69
2.09
1.66
2.59
2.21
2.63
3.55
2.18
1.98
2.73
2.87

2.18
2.21
1.27
0.74
2.18
2.21
2.02
1.92
2.79
1.75
2.14
2.26
2.68
2.27
2.81
3.84
2.28
2.31
2.75
2.87

4. Typical meteorological year (TMY)

4.1. Selection TMY
In this section the selection of the typical meteorological year
(TMY) is described. First the wind speed climatology for two
locations in Palestine (Hebron and Gaza City) is calculated. The
climatology is based on the period 20002011 (12 years). In Fig. 3
we show the climatology of wind speed (blue line) for Hebron
(a) and Gaza City (b), together with the monthly mean wind speed
for the year 2011 (red line) for Hebron and Gaza City. Analyzing
the monthly mean wind speed values for 2011, we see that we nd
a very good agreement with the climatology for both Hebron and
Gaza City. The differences in wind speeds for Hebron are for 2011
on average 1.3% lower than the climatology and on average 1.4%
higher for Gaza City (Table 3). An additional analysis of the precipitation data in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean reveals
that the precipitation data for Cyprus for 2011 is classied as
about normal (i.e. 91100%) according to the normal (19611990)
(http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/ms/ms.nsf/DMLclimatological_en/
DMLclimatological_en?OpenDocument).
4.2. Wind prole 2011
In Fig. 4 yearly average wind prole is presented. For clarity
purposes we focus on the Gaze Strip and the West Bank and we
recalculated the original 3  3 km on a 6  6 km for clarity purposes. The prevailing wind direction is westerly for the Gaza
region. At the coastline of the Gaza Strip the yearly average wind
speeds are around 4.7 m/s and more inland around 2.8 m/s. For the
West Bank the prevailing wind directions are south-westerly in
the northern part of the West Bank and north-westerly in the
southern part. The highest yearly average wind speeds are calculated easterly of Hebron with wind speeds up to  5.3 m/s.
In Fig. 5 monthly average wind proles for 2011 are presented.
Wind speeds for the Gaza Strip are the highest closest to the sea
with wind speeds up to  6 m/s, while more inland the wind
speeds drop to  3 m/s. For the West Bank the maximum wind
speeds are found in the western part with velocities of  5 m/s,
while in the eastern part the wind speeds are  3.5 m/s.
During spring (MarchMay) and in the north western part of
the West Bank the lowest wind speeds are calculated, while higher
wind speeds are found more central and to the south (Hebron

area). In May the highest wind speeds are calculated up to

 5.6 m/s. For Gaza Strip wind speeds are around 3 m/s during
spring time.
In June and July low wind speeds are calculated for the Gaza
Strip (  2.43.5 m/s), while for the central part of the West Bank
the highest wind speeds are calculated with an average monthly
maximum wind speed of  7.0 m/s in June and 6.3 m/s in July.
During September and October, average monthly wind speeds
vary between  2.5 and  3.8 m/s for the Gaza Strip and for the
West Bank between  2.9 and 5.9 m/s. Interesting is to see the
low area pressure system over the sea westerly from Israel for
November, which is responsible for a dominant southerly wind
direction over Gaza (with wind speeds up to  6 m/s) and a
southerly, south-easterly wind direction over the north western
part of the West Bank region (wind speeds up to  5.0 m/s). The
southern part of the West Bank is dominated by a westerly ow
with low wind speeds.
4.3. Evaluation of the TMY
For the comparison with available observations, we extracted
data from stations included in the WMO (World Meteorological
Organization) network and in the NCEP ADP Global Surface
Observational Weather Data for the TMY, i.e. the year 2011. We
focused on wind speed and wind direction observations at 10 m
height. The data should have been recorded at hourly intervals
during the full consecutive 12-month period. Therefore each station should have 8760 data points, corresponding to the 8760 h
included in the year 2011 (not a leap year), to allow a 100% match.
WMO's recommendations specify that an estimation of model
performance by using observation can be considered valid only if
the match between data points is above 90%. It is worth noticing in
Table 4, that no stations of the dataset fullled these requirements.
Therefore, we decided to include in this analysis all stations
showing more than 10% match. Data from station were compared
to data from the closest grid point. Finally, the Palestinian Energy
authorities provided 15-min measurements from 8 ground stations located in West Bank. These observations are also used to
estimate the performance of the modeling. Table 4 gives the mean
wind speed (m/s) and the associated standard deviation for the
observation and the modeled data. In addition, the Mean Bias
Error (MBE in m/s), the Mean Absolute Error (MAE in m/s), the
Standard Deviation Error (STDE), and the Root Mean Squared Error

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A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Table 5
Power density (W/m2) and wind speed (m/s) at 40 m for West Bank for the period
20002011.
Statistics at 40 m in
West Bank

Average Maximum Minimum Median Standard

deviation

2000

4.31

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)

25

123

10,783

4.16

25

102

11,065

4.41

23.97

129

8471

4.55

25

151

9773

4.24

24.61

119

8873

4.27

25

114

10,078

3.83

34

3.76

32

3.92

36

3.97

37

3.76

32

3.83

2.71

322

2.51

266

2.77

318

2.98

384

2.71

Table 5 (continued )
Statistics at 40 m in
West Bank

Average Maximum Minimum Median Standard

deviation

20002011 Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)

4.26

25

116

13,896

3.81

33

2.66

300

(RMSE) are presented. The denition of the statistics are given in

the Annex.
The analysis is based on statistics but also diurnal and seasonal
cycles, monthly and annually averaged wind roses, and monthly
and annually averaged weibull distribution.
For 16 out of 20 stations the relation RMSEmod oSTDEVobs is
valid, which is one of the conditions for good quality modeling
results [16]. For the stations 401830, 402550, 402700 and 623370,
the RMSE is higher than the standard deviation of the observation.
It is worth noticing that station 401830 is located downtown Jerusalem, 402550 is located downtown Irbed and station 402700 is
located in a densely populated area a couple of kilometers north of
the Amman's airport. Therefore these stations can be subject to
localized effects that cannot be simulated by a meso scale model.
For all stations, both diurnal and seasonal cycle comparisons show
good agreements (not shown).

337

2.64

5. Wind power resource in Palestine

5.1. Wind speed and power density

4.13

22.29

101

6697

4.13

25

104

13,896

4.18

25

107

10,805

4.28

22.69

114

6772

4.18

25

107

11,318

4.32

23.36

110

7694

34

3.73

31

3.71

30

3.79

32

3.83

33

3.76

31

3.93

36

282

2.52

244

2.55

264

2.56

294

2.64

264

2.58

291

2.54

266

The inter-annual variability of the wind speed and power

density was studied for the period 20002011. The average,
maximum, minimum, median and standard deviation of the wind
speed and power density were calculated for the entire West Bank
and Gaza Strip (Tables 5 and 6).
The tables show that the inter-annual variability over the 12
years (20002011) is rather low, especially in West Bank. Consistently with the climatology analysis described earlier, the
highest wind speed averages occur in 2003 and the lowest
averages in 2008. It justies the choice of 2011 as the TMY.
5.2. Wind resource potential
The United States of America National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) classies wind power density at several levels
(www.nrel.gov/gis/wind_detail.html). The same classication is used
to discuss wind power potential in the Palestinian territories (Table 7).
NREL advises that areas designated as class 3 or greater are
suitable for most utility-scale wind turbine applications, whereas
class 2 areas are marginal for utility-scale applications but may be
suitable for rural applications. Class 1 areas are generally not suitable, although a few locations (e.g., exposed hilltops not shown
on the maps) with adequate wind resource for wind turbine
applications may exist in some class 1 areas.
In Fig. 6 power density map is shown, which indicates that at
40 m height (i.e. the height of the NPS 100's hub), most of the
territories fall within class 1 which is hardly suitable for wind
development. A class 2 area follows the western crest of the
Palestinian mountains. This area should be studied more in details
to determine suitable potential sites.

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Table 6
Power density (W/m2) and wind speed (m/s) at 40 m for the Gaza Strip for the
period 20002011.
Statistics at 40 m in
Gaza Strip

Average Maximum Minimum Median Standard

deviation

2000

4.38

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)

23.2

3.86

133

7524

35

4.29

22.38

111

6808

35

4.48

24.09

135

8569

38

4.65

23.69

159

8157

4.32

25

129

10,556

4.32

21.75

116

6228

4.25

21.29

108

5892

4.22

22.28

108

6730

4.21

25

112

9811

4.37

20.63

119

5323

4.24

25

114

9874

4.42

21.07

115

5598

3.89

4.08

41

3.85

34

3.89

35

3.84

34

3.8

33

3.83

34

3.96

37

3.81

33

4.05

39

2.83

356

2.6

261

Table 6 (continued )
Statistics at 40 m in
Gaza Strip

Average Maximum Minimum Median Standard

deviation

20002011 Wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
density
(W/m2)

4.35

25

122

10,556

3.03

3.90

35

2.70

317

Table 7
Classes of wind power density at 10 m and 50 m.
Power
class

2.81

343

559

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

10 m

50 m

Wind speed
(m/s)

Power density
(W/m2)

Wind speed
(m/s)

Power density
(W/m2)

04.4
4.45.1
5.15.6
5.66.0
6.06.4
6.47.0
7.09.4

0100
100150
150200
200250
250300
300400
4001000

15.6
5.66.4
6.47.0
7.07.5
7.58.0
8.08.8
8.811.9

0200
200300
300400
400500
500600
600800
8002000

399

2.82

354

2.65

269

2.57

248

2.58

266

2.59

342

2.67

281

2.66

320

2.57

251

At 80 m (Fig. 7), the zone east of Hebron emerges as class 3 and

becomes the most suitable areas in West Bank. Wind potential all
over Gaza is unfortunately not enough to be considered at
any level.
5.3. Annual energy production
As mentionned previously, only the gross AEP is considered
and calculated in this study. Gross AEP is the sum of the instantaneous production values calculated for each time step of the
hourly time series spanning the full year. One should note that the
Weibull probability distribution are not used in this approach. The
gross AEP is determined using solely and directly the time series
calculated by the mesoscale model.
Fig. 8 represents the AEP in MW h over Palestinine using the
Northern Power NPS 100-24 wind turbine, presented in paragraph 2.4.
The capacity factor is calculated as the ratio of the gross annual
production to the potential annual production if it were possible to
operate at full capacity continuously. Therefore the potential
annual production is the product of the rated (or nominal) power
of the turbine, provided by the manufacturer and of the numbers
of hours of full operation (one year), i.e.,
C

AEP
RatedPower  8760

The rated power of the NPS 100 wind turbine is 0.1 MW; 8760
being the number of hours in a non-leap year.
To get a realistic value, the AEP should really be the Net AEP,
accounting for the negative impact of the different losses. As
mentioned earlier, the net AEP is not determined, therefore gross
AEP is used calculated for the atlas.
The most promising area, east and north-east of Hebron, gives
an AEP between 210 and 250 MW h. Applying Eq. (2) with an AEP
of 210 MWh gives a capacity factor of 24% while for an AEP of
250 MWh, the capacity factor is 28.5%.
It is worth noticing that the mean capacity factor achieved by
onshore wind developments in England was 22.7% in 2007.
Capacity factors ranged from 35.09% to less than a 20% (24 out of
81 operational wind farms throughout 2007) [17]. These are real
measured capacity factors. However, theoretical capacity factors

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A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

Fig. 6. Annual Power density at 40 m for the Palestine region.

Fig. 7. Annual Power density at 80 m for the Palestine region.

A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

561

Fig. 8. AEP for NPS 100 for the Palestine region.

estimated from model and accepted in the wind energy industry

are closer to 3035% [18].
These estimations are low. They support the previous results
regarding wind power density and conrm that the Palestinian
territories unfortunately do not provide a high expectation in term
of wind power potential. However, new AEPs and their associated
capacity factors could be estimated using smaller wind turbines
that could prove more appropriate in the region.

6. Conclusion
In this paper, we presented the analysis of the climatology of
the wind prole, the power density and annual energy production
over the State of Palestine based on WRF simulations for the
period 20002011 (12 years). This climatology study allowed us to
dene of the typical meteorological year for which we determined
the wind power density and the annual energy production.
The analysis of the wind proles for the period 20002011
showed that the highest yearly average wind speeds are calculated
for 2003 while the lowest yearly average wind speeds are calculated for 2008. The Cyprus low is clearly visible as a dominant air
pressure system in the eastern part of the Mediterranean and
impacts the wind proles (wind direction and wind speed) during
spring, fall and winter in that area. For Gaza and West Bank region,
the highest wind speeds are observed during the winter period
and the prevailing wind direction is westerly for both Gaza and
West Bank. For the West Bank higher wind speeds are calculated

than for the Gaza region, with a monthly average of 5.06 72.38 m/
s for Hebron for February.
The year 2011 is selected as a typical meteorological year. The
statistical analysis of the wind proles for 2011 revealed that on
average a difference of  1.4% is found for the wind speeds for
Hebron and Gaza City for 2011 when compared to the climatology.
At the coastline of the Gaza Strip the yearly average wind speeds
are around 4.7 m/s and lower wind speeds are found more inland.
For the West Bank, the highest yearly average wind speeds are
calculated easterly of Hebron with wind speeds up to  5.3 m/s.
During spring, the lowest wind speeds are located in the northwestern part of the West Bank and the highest wind speeds over the
central and to the southern part (Hebron area). During summer low
wind speeds are calculated for the Gaza region, while for the central
part of the West Bank the highest wind speeds are found in June and
July. In general, the wind speeds for the Gaza region are the highest
closest to the sea, while more inland lower wind speeds are found.
Over the elevated terrain of the central part of the West Bank region
the highest wind speeds are calculated.
The analysis of the comparison of the calculated wind speeds
with the observations shows that for 16 out of 20 stations the
relation RMSEmod oSTDEVobs is valid, which is one of the conditions for good quality modeling results.
The low variations of wind power density over a 12-year period
(20002011) in Gaza and the West Bank offer good predictability of
the wind resource. However, the analysis on the wind power density
and the annual energy production of a 100 kW wind turbine shows
that the potential of wind energy in Palestine is low. The power
density at 80 m shows that the area easterly of Hebron emerges as

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A. De Meij et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 551562

class 3 and is the most suitable area in West Bank. Wind potential all
over Gaza is unfortunately not enough to be considered at any level.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Palestinian Energy Authority for
giving us the opportunity to conduct the study and prepare the
wind atlas of Palestine based on satellite data. Our thanks also are
going to the technical team appointed from the Palestinian Energy
Authority for this study in addition to the Palestinian Meteorological Directorate for providing meteorological observations. The
study is fully funded by the Palestinian Energy Authority with
nancial support from the Norwegian cooperation. The full results
of the wind energy potential assessment are available upon
request.

Annex
See Table A1
Table A1
Denition of the statistics.
Indices
MBE
MAE
MRE
STDE
RMSE

Formulas
N
P

MBE N1
MAE N1
MRE
STDE

Description

i1
N
P

F i  Oi

jF i  O i j
i1
N
P
F i  Oi
Oi
i1

Mean Bias Error

Mean Absolute Error
Mean Relative Error

s
N
P
1
F i  Oi  MBE2
N

Standard Deviation Error

s
N
P
1
F i  Oi 2
N

Root Mean Square Error

RMSE

i1

i1

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