Modeling predictive suitability to identify the potential of wind and solar energy as a driver of sustainable development in the Red Sea state, Sudan

This paper investigated the potential and economic validity of wind and solar energy at 17 selected locations in the Red Sea state, Sudan, for the first time. To this aim, the NASA database was utilized. The results demonstrated that vertical axis wind turbines would be a good solution for electricity generation for building in the selected locations. Additionally, it is found that the chosen areas are suitable for installing photovoltaic (PV) systems due to the high-value solar radiation. Moreover, the economic viability of small-scale wind and PV systems for rooftop buildings in the selected regions is investigated. For a financial analysis of wind turbines, the performance of different characteristics of vertical axis winds was evaluated based on the determination of capacity factor and energy production cost. For the economic validity of installing PV systems, RETScreen Expert software was used. The results indicate that the annual production energy from wind turbines and solar power is within the range of 158.50–29,063.93kWh and 6648–15,533 kWh, respectively. This amount of energy output would reduce the effect of global warming and enhance the sustainable technological development of the country. Moreover, the results indicate that model#9 (Vertical Axis Wind Generator-V) with a capacity of 5 kW has the lowest cost value (0.08703–0.01025 $/kWh) compared to the other selected turbines for the studied locations. Besides, the average energy production cost is within the range of 0.036–0.049 $/kWh for PV systems. In the end, it is concluded that using small-scale renewable energy systems will help reduce the electricity bills and the dependency on fossil fuels, the effect of global warming, and enhance the country’s sustainable technological development.