A Study on Wind and Solar Energy Potentials in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper discusses the wind and solar energy potentials in Malaysia. It first presents the Weibull density functions and compares the wind speed over several cities. Then, it shows the power density at the wind measurement device’s height and compares it with the power density at the hub height of a certain turbine, followed by showing the probability of the turbines operating above 2.5m/s and their annual operating hours. The second part presents temperature and radiation over the same cities and compares the output energy of a specific PV module in each of the cities; to provide a fair comparison. All the data are from the Malaysian Meteorology Department, and they were taken from 2011-2012 on a daily basis. The significance of this research is that it lays the road for optimization studies and gives a glimpse on the energy potential of the wind and solar energies in Malaysia.