Assessment of Economic Feasibility on Promising Wind Energy Sites in Myanmar

Abstract

Due to lack of reliable wind data measured on site by high tower mast, the preliminarily wind atlas of Myanmar is forecasted with Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) reanalysis data using in ArcGIS. From the result wind- map, the promising areas were found in Arakan, Pathein, Yangon, Ye which lie at coastal area in Myanmar and of which wind power density can be used for village power application with isolated-grid. To evaluate the annual energy production of each site, eight suitable wind turbines operated with  low wind speed and isolated-grid are chosen from the RETScreen product data. For economic feasibility of selected sites, 600kW wind farm is  analysed as wind energy project model in RETScreen. RETScreen software output performs the project model matching with site and turbine. PGE wind turbine is investigated for each site with the lowest cost of energy, the highest capacity factor, the greatest annual energy production and the maximum green house gas (GHG) emission in each site. In the proposed project (600kW), 24 units of 25kW wind turbine (PGE) can provide the lowest price of 0.148$/kWh, 0.141$/kWh, 0.171$/kWh and 0.138$/kW, positive net present value (NPV), internal rate of return of 19% (IRR) and simple payback period of 10 yrs (SPB) for each site. The sensitivity analysis is also performed for back up findings of project development. This study can examine the potential and economic feasibility of developing small scale wind farm with isolated grid for generating electricity in remote area, Myanmar.

Keywords

• Site Selections, Wind Turbines, Economic Feasibility, Sensitivity analysis.

References

1. Asian Development Bank: Energy Sector Initial Assessment, Myanmar, October 2012.
2. Win Khaing, “Renewable in Myanmar Energy and Rural Development”, 2008 TCDPAP & FIDIC/ASPAC Seoul Conference, 2008.
3. Tint Lwin Oo, “Over View and Status of the Power Sector in Myanmar, Training on International Centre for Hydropower”, 13-14, Feb, 2013, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
4. RETScreen International Clean Energy Decision Support Centre, Wind Energy Project Analysis Chapter, Canada: 2004.
5. Prachuab Peerapong, Bundit Limmeechokchai, 90 MW Wind farm feasibility study and site selection in northeastern Thailand:The renewable energy project under CDM, CTC 2011.
6. Baris Ozerdem, Serra Ozer, Mahir Tosun, “Feasibility study of wind farms: A case study for Izmir, Turkey”, Journal Aerodynamics, vol. 94, pp.725–743, April 2006. Engineering and Industrial
7. Erik E. Nordman, “Energy transitions in Kenya’s tea sector: A wind energy assessment”, Renewable Energy, vol. 68, pp. 505-514, February 2014.
8. Khalid Mohamed Nor, Mohamed Shaaban, Hasimah Abdul Rahman, “Feasibility assessment of wind energy resources in Malaysia based on NWP models”, Renewable Energy, vol.62, pp.147-154, July 2013.

9. Shafiqur Rehman, “Prospects of wind farm development in Saudi Arabia”, Renewable Energy, vol.30, pp. 447– 463, April 2005.
10. Said Diafa, Gilles Nottonb, Djamila Diafa, “Technical and economic assessment of wind farm power generation at Adrar in Southern Algeria”, The Mediterranean Green Energy Forum 2013, MGEF-2013, Energy Procedia, vol. 42, pp. 53-62, Novenber 2013.
11. Emmanuel Yeboah Osei , Eric Osei Essandoh, “RETScreen Assessment of Utility Scale Wind Power Generation Based on Historical Wind Speed Data-the Case of Mankoadze in the Central Region of Ghana”, Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, vol.7(21), pp. 4593-4600, June 2014.
12. Van-Tan Tran, Tsai-Hsiang Chen, “Assessing the Wind Energy for Rural Areas of Vietnam”, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, vol.3,No.3, pp. 523-528, June 2013.
13. U.S Department of Energy, Wind Energy Resource Potential, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program, 2006.
14. True Wind Solutions, LLC Albany, Wind Energy Resource Atlas of Southeast Asia, New York: September 2001.
15. D. Elliott, M. Schwartz, R. George, S. Haymes, Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the Philippines, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, February, 2001.
16. RETScreen International Clean Energy Decision Support Centre: Clean Energy Project Analysis, RETScreen Engineering and Cases Textbook. 3rd ed., Canada, 2004.
17. RETScreen International Clean Energy Decision Support Centre: RET Screen Software Online User Manual; Wind Energy Project Model, Canada, 2004.
18. Product data, www.retscreen.net, March 2004.
19. http://hedataanalysis.com/link.html. [accessed in 26.9.2013]