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Abstract

In this investigation, a period of ten years of wind data from five meteorological station have been used to evaluate the potential of wind energy production on the Irbid, Al-Salt, Madaba, Tafilah and Aqaba regions, Situated in Northern Jordan, west-central Jordan, central Jordan, southern Jordan and northeastern tip of the Red Sea respectively. Furthermore, a study into the feasibility of using three wind turbines of different power ranging from 900, 2000 and 3000 kW at each location to be employed in wind farms is examined. The reported data of the wind speeds over ten years are fitted to the Weibull and Ralyeigh distribution, which is most frequently used and most appropriate, characterizing frequency distribution for wind moving over Jordan. The wind speed annual mean values and the frequency distributions were found for the five locations studied. It is apparent from the results of the analysis that the highly promising sites of having good wind energy potential is Aqaba, whereas, Madaba has the lower potential. The annual mean values of the wind speed and power density of the observed and theoretical distributions are 2.88 ms-1 and 50 Wm-2 for Irbid, 2.34 ms-1 and 26 Wm-2 for Al-Salt, 3.00 ms-1 and 33Wm-2 for Madaba, 3.20 ms-1 and 60 Wm-2 for Tafilah and 4.78 ms-1 and 160 Wm-2 for Aqaba.