Alternative robust estimation methods for parameters of Gumbel distribution: an application to wind speed data with outliers

摘要

An accurate determination of wind speed distribution is the basis for an evaluation of the wind energy potential required to design a wind turbine, so it is important to estimate unknown parameters of wind speed distribution. In this paper, Gumbel distribution is used in modelling wind speed data, and alternative robust estimation methods to estimate its parameters are considered. The methodologies used to obtain the estimators of the parameters are least absolute deviation, weighted least absolute deviation, median/MAD and least median of squares. The performances of the estimators are compared with traditional estimation methods (i.e., maximum likelihood and least squares) according to bias, mean square deviation and total mean square deviation criteria using a Monte-Carlo simulation study for the data with and without outliers. The simulation results show that least median of squares and median/MAD estimators are more efficient than others for data with outliers in many cases. However, median/MAD estimator is not consistent for location parameter of Gumbel distribution in all cases. In real data application, it is firstly demonstrated that Gumbel distribution fits the daily mean wind speed data well and is also better one to model the data than Weibull distribution with respect to the root mean square error and coefficient of determination criteria. Next, the wind data modified by outliers is analysed to show the performance of the proposed estimators by using numerical and graphical methods.