Estimation of monsoon wind characteristics in India

Abstract

A detailed statistical analysis of monthly average wind speed data of monsoon period (June-September) for the year 1921-90  for 57 stations spread all over India have been reported. Probability densities, average wind speeds, standard deviations, kurtosis and  skewness of wind speed frequency distribution for each station have been worked out. Histograms depicting relative frequency distribution of average wind speeds have also been prepared. It is observed  that the different histograms do not exhibit any similarity among themselves indicating thereby  that no single distribution is uniformly applicable for all the stations. It is also seen that the average  wind speeds during monsoon period over major part of India  varies from 7 to 14 kmph. Further, at most of the stations average monsoon  wind speed is generally higher than average annual wind speeds. It is also noted that most of the time the wind speed exceeds 10 kmph in coastal regions of Gujarat and southern parts of the peninsular India. The information generated is of multi fold application such as (i) Identification of sites suitable for installation of Wind Energy Conversion Systems  (ii) Development of Driving Rain Index and (iii) Design of buildings for creating comfortable environment indoors.