Climatology of wind speed persistence over Turkey

ABSTRACTIt is a well‐known fact that, sustainability is very important issue in the field of energy production of any kind. Wind speed persistence, as a climatological indicator, is one of the most important components of wind phenomenon which is closely related with sustainability of wind energy production. The most suitable areas for wind energy production are the areas with high wind speed persistence. On the other hand, there are a few studies on how to measure persistence of wind properly. In this study, two novel methods used to investigate persistence characteristics of a given area were applied to Turkey's wind speed data. The results have revealed some important characteristics of persistence throughout Turkey. According to these results western parts of Anatolia have highest persistence. The second region that has high persistence is inner parts of Anatolia because the topography of the Aegean region which enables wind to penetrate along long distances from the coast to the inner parts of Anatolia. All of the results obtained from the study are in accordance with the observations.