RenewableEnergyVol. 1, No. 5/6, pp.

855-857, 1991
Printed in Great Britain.

0960-1481/91 $3.00+.00
Pergamon Press plc

TECHNICAL NOTE
The potential of wind electricity generation in Bangladesh
M . SARKAR* a n d M . HUSSAIN
Department of Physics and Renewable Energy Research Centre, University of Dhaka,
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

(Received 17 April 1990; accepted 27 June 1990)

Abstract--The hourly wind speed data of the coastal station Chittagong have been collected for the years
1978-81. From the hourly average wind speed, the hourly and monthly energy outputs were computed for
three commercial machines (22 kW, 16 kW and 4 kW) having different cut-in wind speed. The 22 kW
machine was found to produce higher energy output per m: than the other two for our energy regime. The
hourly and monthly energy variation of the 22 kW machine was studied and the cost per kWh of energy
produced by this machine was obtained. Considering the wind speed distribution of Bangladesh, it appears
that a wind machine in combination with a conventional diesel back up system will be economiclaly viable
for electricity generation in the off-shore islands but not in inland locations.

INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is one of the highly energy deficient countries in
the world. The per capita commercial energy consumption
in Bangladesh in 1981 was 35 KgOE [1] which is pretty low
even compared to that of neighbouring India (158 KgOE)
and Pakistan (I 79 KgOE). By 1985, electricity consumption
grew to 41 KgOE in Bangladesh but the disparity increased
further. Electricity which is only 10% of the commercial
energy and 2% of the total energy consumed is being produced here in different ways : hydro-electricity and electricity
generated using natural gas are the main sources in the eastern zone and in the western region oil burning generators
are used. In some islands such as Kutubdia Sandwip etc.
electricity is produced using small diesel generators (I0-100
kW). For one such station, it has been found [2] that the fuel
cost per kWh of electricity supplied is Tk.8.92 in 1982 which
is much higher than the national average fuel cost of Tk.0.83
in the same year. In this work an attempt has been made to
study the possibility of harnassing wind energy for electricity
production in Bangladesh.
An earlier study on wind speed and wind energy availability in Bangladesh [3] showed that in the western region
almost all meteorological stations have an average annual
wind speed of around 4 km/h except the station Jessore and
Faridpur where the average speed recorded in 8 km/h. In the
eastern side, the average speed is a little bit higher with the
exception of (i) the inland station Dhaka Airport where the
speed is much above average and (ii) the coastal station
Chittagong where the highest average speed (I3 km/h) has
been recorded. It is reported [4] that the average speed of
Sagar Islands in India which is near to Bangladesh is 19
km/h. During a brief survey with a hand anemometer, a
coastal area of Bangladesh (Char Jabbar) again showed high
wind speeds. So far as we know, there is no hourly wind
speed data of off-shore island coasts. But our guess is that
the wind speed in those areas should be at least equal to that
of Chittagong and might approach that for Sagar Islands.
An annual average wind speed of 13 km/h which has been

recorded in Chittagong might be useful in generating electricity economically under Bangladesh conditions. In this
paper, taking the data of Chittagong to be representative of
coastal areas we would like to show how much energy one
can get from three different types of wind generators having
cut-in wind speeds of 2, 3.5 and 4.5 m/s. The cost of the
energy produced by the machine which gives the maximum
energy output was then calculated and compared with that
of the diesel generators.
DATA COLLECTION AND RESULTS
For the station Chittagong, the Meteorological Department of Bangladesh collects hourly wind speed data with the
help of a vertical-axis cup anemometer. The data for the
period 1978-80 were collected manually from the log-book.
These were then averaged over three years to get the hourly,
monthly and annual speeds. Suposing that the wind machine
has a tower height of 60 ft the wind speed corresponding to
this height was computed from measurements made at a
lower height of 10 m using the formula

* Present address : IRST, 38050 Povo, Trento, Italy.

855

v, - \ h , /

The value of ct was taken from the literature [5]. Mani and
Mooley [4] made a systemic study of ct over different parts
of India. From that work, one can guess that for Chittagong,
the average value of ~ might be 0.3. In that case the overall
energy output will be 20% higher. We have chosen to make
a rather conservative estimate of the energy output with
lower ~t and possibly a lower wind speed.
The characteristics of three machines (22 kW, 16 kW,
1 kW) as found from the literature [6--8] are shown in Table 1.
Taking the average output energy for wind speeds in between
the cut-in and rated values to be linear, a straight line fit was
drawn. Corresponding to each hourly average speed for a
month the energy output for that particular hour was determined from that fit. All the hourly energy outputs were added
up to get the daily output which is again multiplied by the
total number of days of a month to get the monthly energy

856

Technical Note
Table 1. The characteristics of three machines found from the literature [6-8]

Name

Country

Aeroman (22 kW)

W 16 (16 kW)
Enertech (4 kW)

Holland
Australia
U.S.A.

Blade
material

Rated
power
(kW)

Rated
wind
speed
(m/s)

Fibre glass
Fibre glass
Wood

22
16
4

8.5
8.0
10.7

Blade
diameter No. of
(m)
blades
II.0
12.0
6.0

2
3
3

output. Table 2 shows such energy output per m 2 for different

months of the year for the three machines.
DISCUSSION
From Table 2, it is found that the energy output per unit
blade area (kWh/m 2) is highest for the 22 kW machine. From
the hourly energy values for the same machine (Fig. I), it is
found that for the months from April to August, most of the
time, the output is above 5 kW and peaks at around 3 p.m.
o f local time. Small, cottage industries which run during
the day time could be very profitably powered by a wind
generator as energy storage requirement would be minimum
and investment on batteries would not be high. Wind power
can also be used for water storage pumping or lighting in the
earlier hours of night during the above months with similar
advantage. Late at night, power required for lighting, is
small in developing countries and a large battery bank is not
necessary. Storage batteries are costly and a wind machine
with small storage batteries tends to become less costly. It is
also evident that for the period from October to February
and also for some hours in the months of March and September, the energy output is practically zero. So a stand
alone wind machine cannot be used as a power generating
unit. It must be coupled with an auxiliary device, say a
conventional diesel generator which should be used only for
the lean period.
From a cost analysis (shown in the appendix), it is clear
that the cost per k w h energy produced by the above 22 kW
machine (Tk.1.68) is much less than that o f a small diesel
burning system. If it is assumed that 40% of the energy
produced over the year is available for utilization, even then
Table 2. Monthly energy output (kWh/m 2) for
the wind machines
Month

22 kW

16 kW

4 kW

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

19
23
25
60
60
93
108
99
23
4
0
3

8
11
18
40
42
55
62
56
21
6
3
5

5
7
7
18
15
29
36
29
5
0
0
0

Total

517

327

151

Cut in Furling
speed speed
(m/s)
(m/s)
3.5
2.0
4.5

24
-18.0

Output

Price

220/380 volts $38,000

240 volts
-230 volts
--

the energy produced by the wind generator remains cheaper

than the fuel cost per kWh of energy supplied (Tk.8.29).
In the western zone o f Bangladesh where electricity is
generated by burning oil, the wind speed is reported [3] to
be low. So a wind machine has no importance in those areas.
In the eastern side, hydro-electricity and natural gas burning
systems are two sources of electricity. Wind speeds in some
of the places in this zone, especially in the coastal belt are
sufficient to run a windmill for few months of the year. But
the cost per kWh energy produced by a wind mill will be
more costly than the existing centrally generated electricity
in the main land. So one can say that normal grid line will
not be benefited by feeding in power from machines.
Our off-shore islands are expected to have sufficiently good
wind speeds to run a wind machine cost effectively. At
present, in some of those areas, electricity is produced by
diesel generators and normal grid lines cannot be extended
to those places. Wind generators with a diesel back up system
will be most suitable for the off-shore islands.
The points that emerge out of this study are: (1) wind
generators in combination with diesel systems should be
suitable for off-shore islands, (2) normal grid lines will not
be benefited by feeding in power from wind generators, (3)
meteorological stations should be established in seaside
locations in the islands to record the hourly wind speed in
order to obtain better information on the energy availability
and (4) as a pilot project, a small wind generator may be setup in one of the islands at a suitable location to study with
a good accuracy the energy production and its cost.

APPENDIX
The cost per kWh of energy produced by the 22 kW
machine has been calculated under the following assumptions [7] : (1) the life time of the machine (t) was assumed to
be 20 years, (2) the interest rate (r) and inflation rate (0
were taken to be 15% and 12% respectively, (3) operation,
maintenance and repair cost (Corer) was considered to be 25%
of the annual cost of the machine (machine price/life time),
(4) scrap value S was taken to be 10% of the machine price
and civil work and (5) investment (I) includes the machine
price plus its 20% for the civil work and other connections.
The present value o f costs (PVC) is [7]
1-1 +i-]

[-

[1+i']

['l+i]'

pvc =/+ CompLex_i] i_1- l ~ r ) J - S / ~ r J

For the 22 kW machine, the price [6] is taken to be US$38000

and the cost of civil work (20% of the price) = $7600. Therefore investment I = $45600, C,,mr= $(38000/20) X0.25 =
5;475.00 and S = $ (45600 x 0.10) = $4560.00 where r = 0.15
and i = 0.12.
Using all these values in the above equation

Technical Note

857

APRIL

FEBRUARY

JUNE

20-

/2

I
v

I/

:)
in
I-20

"~

.~.,. I

OCTOBER

AUGUST

DECEMBER

._I

<
Io
I--

0-20

I0-20 20-20

0-20

10-20

20-20

,/

0-20

10-20

20-20

TIME ( IN GMT)
Fig. 1. Hourly energy output (kW/m 2) for the wind machine Aeroman (22 kW) over the different months
of the year.

PVC = $50151.00.
From Table 2 the annual output of 22 kW machine is
517 [(D/2) 2] kWh = 49132 kWh where D is the diameter of
the blade. So the total output in 20 years = (49132x20)
kWh. Therefore, the cost per kWh = $50151/49132 20 =
$0.051 = Tk.68 (1 US$ = Tk.33.00). Even if only 40% of the
total output is available for consumption the cost per kWh
power supplied would be Tk.4.20.

REFERENCES
1. M. Hussain, Energy 12, 369 (1987).
2. B, Hezeltine, A report from Centre for Policy Research,

Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1983 (unpublished).

3. M. Hussain, S. Alam, K. A. Reza and M. Sarkar, Energy
Conversion and Management 26, 321 (1986).
4. A. Mani and D. A. Mooley, WindEnergy Data oflndia.
Allied Publications, New Delhi, India (1983).
5. R. H. B. Exell, S. Thavapalachendran and P. Mukhia,
AIT Research Report No. 1489, Published by the Renewable Energy Research Information Centre, Bangkok,
Thailand.
6. G. Furlan, N. A. Mancini and A. A. M. Sayigh, Non
Conventional Energy Sources, p. 713, World Scientific
Publications, Singapore (1985).
7. S. M. Habli, M. A. S. Hamdan, B. A. Jurdan and Adnan
O. Zaid, Solar Energy 38, 59 (1987).
8. Private communications. Wind Technology, P.O. Box 716
Wodonga 3690, Australia.