Potential of solar radiation and wind speed for photovoltaic and wind power hybrid generation in Perlis, Northern Malaysia

This paper presents analysis of the solar radiation and wind speed characteristics in Perlis, Northern Malaysia for the year of 2006. The characteristics consist of daily and annual mean solar radiation and wind speed. Peak sun hours (PSHs) of the solar radiation and PV power generation capacity are analyzed. The Weibull distribution function is applied to analyze the wind speed characteristics and used to calculate the wind power generation potential. Potential of PV and wind power generation is observed and analyzed during 24 hours (9^th March 2011). The result shows that the annual total solar radiation in Perlis is 1831.45 kWh/m² which will generate a total electric energy of 237.7 kW/m2 per year of PV module, if all the lands in Perlis were filled with horizontal PV panels, nearly 189,29 GWh of electricity could be produced per year. This shows the big potential of solar radiation for PV power generation in Perlis. Based on wind speed data, the probability density of 81.06% and its wind speed is 1.01 m/s, it is important to choose a suitable wind turbine for a wind power generation. Observation during 24 hours (9^th March 2011), for a 24 V PV and wind power hybrid generation, the PV array gives big potential and the wind power gives 10% of its total output voltage.