Assessment and characterisation of renewable energy resources: a case study in Terengganu, Malaysia

Accurate information on the renewable energy density at a given location is essential for the development of renewable energy-based projects. This information is used in the design of a project, in cost analysis, and in calculations on the efficiency of a project. As the renewable energy data are not available for most areas in Malaysia, this study is significant for establishing renewable energy data for Terengganu, Malaysia. The data used in the present study obtained from 2004 to 2008 were used to investigate the solar potentials, and also dataset from 2004 to 2007 were used to investigate the wind potentials and the dataset from 1998 to 2010 were used to investigate the wave potentials. MATLAB was used to process raw data to generate useful renewable energy characteristics. The average yearly cumulative irradiation for Terengganu was 6905.8 MJ/M² per year. The monthly average clearness index varied between 0.42 and 0.64. The average clearness index value was approximately 0.53. High wind speed was recorded during the northeast monsoon at an average of 3.9m/s. The potential wind power generated reached 84.55 W/m² with a probability time factor value of 0.68. Therefore, small wind machines could be used to provide power during northeast monsoon. The total wave energy density was found to be 17.69 MWh/m in an average year. It may be concluded that regions along the coast of Terengganu can consider northeast monsoon period for wave energy exploitation. Adoption of solar and wave technology in Terengganu will be very advantageous based on solar and wave power densities. The wind power density in Terengganu was seen to be less encouraging. Compared with wind power potential, solar and wave resources were seen to be well distributed more evenly throughout the year. This was seen a favourable indication for erection of hybrid renewable energy systems in the study location.