Assessing wind energy potential of Turkey via vectoral map of prevailing wind and mean wind of Turkey

In this study, the most detailed prevailing wind and average wind velocity maps of Turkey on a topographical layer were prepared in terms of the wind energy potential. Thus, the areas with high wind potential have also been investigated in detail, and the wind areas with high wind power potential that have not been studied before were determined. Then, comparisons were made with Turkish Wind Potential Atlas (REPA) prepared by the General Directorate of Renewable Energy (GDRE) operating under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The number of Automatic Weather Observation Stations (AWOS) installation by Turkish Meteorological Service (TMS) highly increased after 2012. Therefore, the composite vectoral topographical maps were well-prepared with using average wind velocity (m/s) data belong to 1207 stations and prevailing wind velocity (m/s) belongs to 1198 stations measured by AWOSs for the period 2012-2018. Climatologically, the strongest winds blow during the summer months, while the weakest winds blow during the autumn months in Turkey. However, the winds at 50 m are weaker in summer months than winter months according to the REPA. Also, higher wind potentials were calculated in selected areas than REPA. For example, it is shown that the Aksaray province has wind potential where REPA shows zero potential and the western parts of Datca have one of the highest wind potentials calculated in Turkey. Therefore, it is concluded that REPA should be updated using the higher numbers of measured station data as much as possible.