Creation of Wind Speed Maps and Determination of Wind Energy Potential with Geographic Information Systems: The Case of Kırklareli Province, Türkiye

The intensive use of fossil fuels for energy production harms the environment. The adoption of sustainable energy systems can reduce the damage. Wind energy is one of the most widely used renewable sources. The most important problem in establishing new wind power plants (WPPs) is estimating the wind energy potential (WEP) in potential installation locations where there are no measured data. Many geographic information system (GIS)-based studies have been conducted on this subject. In this study, based on the technical specifications of a wind turbine selected for the Kırklareli Province of Türkiye, wind speed maps at 125 m height were created using many station points with known locations and wind speeds and the WEP of Kırklareli was calculated. In addition, the WEP map of Kırklareli was created by first determining the areas where WPPs cannot be installed and creating the wind speed map. After removing exclusion areas where wind turbines cannot be installed, the wind speeds at 125 m ranged between 3.12 m/s and 8.51 m/s. The wind speed was found to be higher in the south of the province, and the total WEP in areas with wind speeds higher than 6 m/sec was 6628.21 MW.