STUDY AVAILABILITY OF WIND SPEED IN THE SOUTH COASTAL AREA OF GORONTALO REGENCY, INDONESIA

Abstract

The location of Indonesia at the equator is a Hadley, Walker, and local circulation encounter area so that the condition is estimated to be rich in wind potential. The power capable of installing the 2016 PLN power plant from the Bayu Power Plant (PLTB) only meets 0.20 MW in Gorontalo. This study aims to study the availability of wind speed in the southern coastal region of Gorontalo Regency. Wind speed measurement using hand anemometer is carried out in two sessions for each village, namely session I between 10.00 - 12.00 WITA and session II between 16.00 - 18.00 WITA. There are five villages located on the southern coast of Gorontalo Regency as data collection locations, namely Bongo, Kayubulan, Bulihu Tengah, Luluo and Taulaa Villages. The selection of the village is based on its location in the District Capital, directly adjacent to Tomini Bay, easy access to location, and population. Data retrieval in the form of wind speed, location coordinates, air temperature, air pressure, and altitude. The results showed that the highest average wind speed occurred at the measurement of Session I in Taulaa Village at 4.2 m/s.