Spatial and temporal variation and prediction of wind energy in Hexi corridor from 1960 to 2020

Statistics from the hourly wind speed collected between 1960 and 2020 from 12 meteorological stations in the Hexi Corridor indicate that the western region of the corridor is located in a intermediate to high wind energy environment, while the eastern region is located in a low wind energy environment． Furthermore, the variation rules of the annual average wind speed, the probability of sand-driving wind, and drift potential differ between the eastern and western regions of the corridor． WeibullCum distribution function is universally applicable to express the annual cumulative probability distribution of hourly wind speeds at various meteorological stations． The interannual variation of the constant terms B in the WeibullCum function exhibits periodic fluctuation, while C and D show a decreasing trend． The prediction equations of cumulative probability distribution function of wind speed are then established for the eastern and western regions of Hexi Corridor, respectively． It is observed that the prediction equations have high prediction accuracy for annual average wind speed and sand-driving wind probability, whereas the simulated drift potential is overall less than the actual results． The actually statistical results from 2021 to 2024 further confirm the above conclusions． The wind variations exhibit distinct cycles in the eastern and western regions of the Hexi Corridor． In the next 10 years, it is expected that the peak values for annual average wind speed and sand-driving wind probability will occur around 2025 in the eastern region, while the peak will be later than 2030 in the western region．