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Local meteorological data in Malaysia

The brief study of some old meteorological data below 'indicated' that the average wind speed in Peninsular Malaysia is quite low and varies with season. The location with highest wind speed in Peninsular Malaysia are mostly located at the East coast areas such as Mersing, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bahru. The wind speed data from Mersing, which is the most potential site, is presented here.

The East coast is probably the best wind site in Peninsular Malaysia as the strong Northeast monsoon reaches these coastal areas first. The Northeast monsoon together with the Southwest monsoon forms the dominant winds in Peninsular Malaysia. However, the Northeast monsoon is a stronger wind because the South China sea presents no obstacles to the wind before it reaches the East coast, while the Southwest monsoon is a weaker wind because the Sumatera island act as an obstacle to the wind before it reaches the West coast. Therefore, higher wind speed will occurs in the Northeast monsoon season from November to April, while slower wind speed will occurs in the Southwest monsoon season from May to October. Both the monsoons landed on the coastal areas first before moving inland, so the coastal areas are normally windier compare to inland areas. The strong Northeast monsoon landed on the East coast first, so these areas can be predicted as having the highest wind speed in Peninsular Malaysia.

From a previous student thesis (1988), the highest wind speed area in Peninsular Malaysia is Mersing, followed by other East coast areas such as Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bahru. These predictions are based on wind speed data from 18 meteorological stations for the year of 1984 and 1985. All the data was collected on hourly period, but the height of anemometer varies from station to station. However, no wind speed correction is made as most of the height ratio is small which result in small velocity variation. Furthermore, some of the anemometers’ height are not obtained. The wind speed data in the figure below shows that all the 3 highest wind speed areas is found in East coast. These areas are Mersing, Kuala Terengganu, and Kota Bahru with annual wind speed of 3.1, 2.7, and 2.15m/s respectively. The West coast and inland areas experienced lower wind speed, mostly below 2m/s.

Annual wind speed at 18 meteorological stations in Peninsular Malaysia

The wind speed data for Mersing shows a low annual wind speed and seasonal variation. This site, with annual wind speed below 3.1m/s at height of 10m, and the annual wind power density of 59W/m2 (calculated below) is categorized to ‘Wind Power Class 1’ using wind classification system by Frost and Aspliden (1994). The ‘Wind Power Class 1’ indicate that the local wind speed is indeed very low comparing to the suggested annual wind speed of above 5m/s for wind turbine application in US and Europe.

Annual wind power density = 517115 / (365x24) = 59.0W/m^2
(NOTE: wind density, p = 1.226kg/m^3 and height above ground, h = 13.4m)

The wind speed distribution in 1985 in the graph below shows that the most frequent wind speed is between 2.0-2.9m/s. However, the calculated value of highest energy falls in the wind speed range of 6.0-6.9m/s. Monthly wind speed data in 1985 shows higher wind speed from December to March because the Northeast monsoon season is occurring in these months.

REFERENCE

Frost, W., & Aspliden, C. (1994). Characteristics of the wind. In D. A. Spera (Ed.), Wind turbine technology: Fundamental concepts of wind turbine engineering (pp. 371-445). ASME Press.

Last updated at November 6, 2002
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