The current study is focused on the economic and financial assessments of solar and wind power potential for nine selected regions in Libya for the first time. As the existing meteorological data, including wind speed and global solar radiation, are extremely limited due to the civil war in the country, it was therefore decided to use the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) database as a source of meteorological information to assess the wind and solar potential. The results showed that the country has huge solar energy potential compared to wind energy potential. Additionally, it is found that Al Kufrah is a suitable region for the future installation of the Photovoltaic (PV) power plant due to high annual solar radiation. Based on the actual wind speed analysis, Benghazi and Dernah are the best regions for large-scale wind farm installation in the future taking into account existing meteorological data limitations. The values of the wind power density in all regions are considerable and small-scale wind turbines can be used to generate electricity based on NASA average monthly wind data for 37 years (1982–2019). Moreover, this work aimed to evaluate the wind/PV systems technical and economically through RETScreen Expert (Version 6.0, CanmetENERGY Varennes Research Centre of Natural Resources Canada, Varennes, Canada). Focusing on the power supply crisis in the country, the potential of electricity production by 5 kW grid-connected residential/household rooftop PV in all regions is proposed and presented. Additionally, this paper evaluated a techno-economic analysis of the 50MW wind/PV system in suitable places. The performance of a 5 kW and 50 MW PV solar system with three PV technologies, namely mono-crystalline silicon, poly-crystalline silicon, and thin-film (CdTe), was also analyzed. The results demonstrated that the development of the wind/PV system in the selected regions is both technically and economically feasible. The outcomes of this study can help decision-makers in designing and installing PV power plants as an alternative source for the future.

This paper presents a techno-economic assessment of the wind power potential for eight locations distributed over the Northern part of Cyprus. The wind speed data were collected from the meteorological department located in Lefkoşa, Northern Cyprus.Ten distribution models were used to analyze the wind speed characteristics and wind energy potential at the selected locations. The maximum-likelihood method was used for calculating the parameters of the distribution functions.The power law model is utilized to determine the mean wind speed at various heights. In addition, the wind power density for each location was estimated. Furthermore, the performances of different small-scale vertical axis 3–10 kW wind turbines were evaluated to find those that were suitable and efficient for power generation in the studied locations.The results showed that the annual mean wind speed in the regions is greater than 2 m/s at a height of 10 m. Moreover, it is indicated that Generalized Extreme Value distribution provided the best fit to the actual data for the regions of Lefkoşa, Ercan, Girne, Güzelyurt, and Dipkarpaz. However, the Log-Logistic, Weibull, and Gamma distributions gave a better fit to the actual data of Gazimağusa, YeniBoğaziçi, and Salamis, respectively. The Rayleigh distribution does not fit the actual data from all regions. Furthermore, the values of wind power densityat the areas studied ranged from 38.76 W/m² to 134.29 W/m² at a height of 50 m, which indicated that wind energy sources in these selected locations are classified as poor. Meanwhile, based on the wind analysis, small-scale wind turbine use can be suitable for generating electricity in the studied locations. Consequently, an Aeolos-V2 with a rating of 5 kW was found to be capable of producing the annual energy needs of an average household in Northern Cyprus.

Solar power is the fastest-growing energy source in the world. New technologies can help to generate more power from solar energy. The present paper aims to encourage people and the government to develop solar energy-based power projects to achieve sustainable energy infrastructures, especially in developing countries. In addition, this paper presents a solar energy road map to attract investors to invest in clean energy technology to help reduce the effect of global warming and enhance sustainable technological development. Therefore, the first objective of the paper is to analyze and compare the monthly global solar radiation for five different locations in Northern Cyprus using the measured data collected from the Meteorological Department and estimated values collected from the satellite imagery database. In addition, the mean hourly meteorological parameters including global solar radiation, air temperature, sunshine, and relative humidity are analyzed statistically and the type of distribution functions are selected based on skewness and kurtosis values. Accordingly, estimating global solar radiation improves solar power generation planning and reduces the cost of measuring. Therefore, models of a surface were analyzed by means of polynomial adjustments considering the values of R-squared. Finally, this study provides a comprehensive and integrated feasibility analysis of a 100 MW grid-connected solar plant project as an economic project in the selected region to reduce electricity tariffs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. RETScreen Expert software was used to conduct the feasibility analysis in terms of energy production, GHG emissions, and financial parameters for the best location for the installation of a 100 MW grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plant. Finally, the results concluded that the proposed solar system could be used for power generation in Northern Cyprus.

The growth of populations and economy in Northern Cyprus has led to continuing utilization of fossil fuels as the primary source of electricity, which will raise environmental pollution. Thus, utilizing renewable energy, particularly solar energy, might be a solution to minimize this issue. This paper presents the potential of grid-connected solar PV power generation at Near East University Hospital (NEU Hospital), one of the largest and leading medical facilities in Northern Cyprus, to meet the energy demand during the daytime to reduce energy bills. For this purpose, the first objective of the study is to evaluate the solar energy potential as a power source for the NEU Hospital based on four datasets (actual measurement, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CMSAF), Surface Radiation Data Set-Heliosat (SARAH), and ERA-5, produced by the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast). The results showed that the solar resource of the selected location is categorized as excellent (class 5), that is, the global solar radiation is within the range of 1843.8–2035.9 kWH/m². The second objective is to investigate the impact of orientation angles on PV output, capacity factor, economic feasibility indicators, and CO₂ emissions by using different PV modules. The results are compared with optimum orientation angles found by Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) simulation software. This objective was achieved by using RETScreen Expert software. The results demonstrated that the highest performance of the proposed system was achieved for orientation angles of 180° (azimuth angle) and −35° (tilt angle). Consequently, it is recommended that orientation angles, PV modules, and market prices are considered to maximize energy production and reduce electricity production costs.

The increased energy demand and related environmental problems caused by burning fossil fuels have raised interest in alternative energy sources. This study investigated the wind characteristics and available wind energy for three urban regions in Northern Cyprus using the Weibull distribution function. The results illustrate that Gazimağusa is the most applicable location for harvesting the kinetic energy of the wind compared to Lefkoşa and Girne. Moreover, the solar potential at a specific location can be analyzed using a different simulation tool. In the present paper, the performance of a rooftop Photovoltaic (PV) system for household buildings in three selected is assessed. Three types of simulation software (PVGIS, PV*SOL, and PVWatts) are used to evaluate the performance of the 6.4 kWp grid-connected rooftop PV system. This study assessed the energy generation, performance ratio and capacity factor for this PV system. The results concluded that PVGIS is an easy, fast, and reliable software tool that can be used for the simulation of a solar PV system in the studied regions. Furthermore, an economic evaluation of renewable systems in the three urban regions is presented. As a result, a small-scale grid-connected solar/wind system that is able to generate electricity with an excellent percentage of clean energy was proposed and developed. The analysis indicates that the proposed PV projects showed significant potential in the studied locations. In addition, the proposed PV system is the most economical option for generating electricity compared to wind systems due to the low electricity prices and of the ability to recover the initial investment. Consequently, it is expected that the simulation results will help in demonstrating the advantages and challenges of installing grid-connected PV systems for households in Northern Cyprus in order to reduce the electricity consumption produced by fossil fuels.