Analysis and efficient comparison of ten numerical methods in estimating Weibull parameters for wind energy potential: Application to the city of Bafoussam, Cameroon

The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare efficiently of 10 (ten) numerical methods namely, the empirical method of Justus (EMJ), the empirical method of Lysen (EML), the method of moments (MoM), the graphical method (GM), the Mabchour’s method (MMab), the energy pattern factor method (EPFM), the maximum likelihood method (MLM), the modified maximum likelihood method (MMLM), the equivalent energy method (EEM), and the alternative maximum likelihood method (AMLM) in order to estimate Weibull parameters for wind energy potential. They were performed by using wind speed data collected in the meteorological station of Bafoussam city, in the west region of Cameroon, in the period from 2007 to 2013. The results of this study obtained from statistical analysis show that the MLM presents relatively more excellent ability throughout the simulation tests, followed by EEM, EPFM and EMJ respectively. They also demonstrated that EEM presented minimum error in estimating the monthly wind power density and that the wind potential of Bafoussam city can be interesting for some applications such as rural electrification and water pumping in agriculture.