Investigating Wind Potential in Rwanda

Abstract: Transitioning to renewable energy (RE) sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower is crucial for mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, 640 million people in Africa lacked access to clean energy. In Rwanda, the energy context revealed a 52% share of non-renewable and a 44% share of renewable sources. However, Rwanda faces a shortage of electricity to meet demand, even with imports from neighboring countries. Therefore, Rwanda set a goal to electrify all households by 2024, aiming for 100% electricity access through enhanced generation capacity and cross-border interconnections. The country has significant potential for RE, particularly in hydro, solar, methane gas, peat, and geothermal resources. However, Rwanda's wind resource has not yet been exploited for power generation. Although wind power in Rwanda has provided possible solutions in some areas, such as water pumping, windmills, and electricity generation, its full potential remains untapped. The main goal of this study is to investigate the wind resource assessment of Rwanda, a landlocked country in East Africa, as part of its efforts to achieve a 60% RE share in the generation mix by 2030. This study focuses on assessing Rwanda's wind potential through comprehensive data analysis, using hourly wind speed and direction data at 10 m above ground level for the year 2023 from various Meteo Rwanda sites across the country, along with   gridded dataset of ERA5 reanalysis data at approximately 25 km spatial resolution at 10 m and 100 m. Additionally, the study used the WAsP model to validate by comparison the measured and modeled wind data from annual means to diurnal cycles.  The methods used include the Weibull distribution and logarithmic law to describe wind speed distributions, and extrapolating values to different hub heights by using ERA5 reanalysis data. Furthermore, capacitor factors are computed, and wind power density is determined for each site given. This research aims to investigate the wind potential of Rwanda, contributing to its sustainable energy transition.