Prospect of wind energy utilization in Saudi Arabia: A review.

Abstract In Saudi Arabia, the current production of electric power is mainly relying on crude oil which causes a high percentage of carbon dioxide emissions and no power is generated from any renewable sources. However, recently Saudi Government has announced a development plan 'The Saudi Vision 2030' where the target is 20% of the production of power from the renewable sources mainly from solar and wind. Like other countries e.g., China, India, US and UK that produce a significant amount of their electric power from renewable sources. Saudi Arabia has a vast land area where there is a plenty of prospect to install renewable power plants (solar and wind farm) to generate a significant amount of electric power to meet their 2030 target. This paper analyses past 10 years wind data in various location of Saudi Arabia to investigate the feasibility to generate power. This study also recommends the potential locations that are suitable for wind power generation including suggestions of the wind turbine specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]