Meso- and Micro-scale flow modelling in the Gulf of Suez, Arab Republic of Egypt

The results of a comprehensive, 10-year wind resource assessment programme in the Gulf of Suez are presented. The primary purpose has been to provide reliable and accurate wind atlas data sets for evaluating the potential wind power output from large electricity producing wind-turbine installations; a secondary purpose has been to evaluate the applicability of current wind resource estimation and siting tools – in particular the European Wind Atlas methodology – to this region where the meso-scale effects are pronounced and the climatic conditions (e.g. atmospheric stability) somewhat extreme.

The wind data are analyzed using the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). The Karlsruhe Atmospheric Meso-scale Model (KAMM) has been used to model the wind flow as well as to establish the magnitude and spatial variation of the wind resource in the Gulf of Suez – based on the NCEP/NCAR global reanalysis data set.

Results are compared to long-term measurements of wind speed and direction at 13 meteorological stations along a 250-km stretch of the Gulf of Suez and the northern Red Sea. The simulations of the wind climate in the Gulf of Suez with the KAMM meso-scale model capture the main features of the complicated flow patterns and of the observed wind climates; however, the mean wind speeds and power densities are somewhat underestimated.

The wind resource is found to be very high in the Gulf of Suez – with capacity factors of up to about 70% – at the same time the horizontal gradients of wind speed and power density are quite steep. The combination of meso- and micro-scale flow models – here the KAMM/WAsP methodology or the Numerical Wind Atlas – seem necessary in order to make reliable wind resource assessments in all parts of the Gulf of Suez.