Beta-generalized Lindley distribution: A novel probability model for wind speed

Wind speed distribution has many applications, such as the assessment of wind energy and building design. Applying an appropriate statistical distribution to fit the wind speed data, especially on its heavy right tail, is of great interest. In this study, we introduce a novel four-parameter class of generalized Lindley distribution, called the beta-generalized Lindley (BGL) distribution, to fit the wind speed data, which are derived from the annual and long-term measurements of the Flatirons M2 meteorological tower from the years 2010 to 2020 at heights of 10, 20, 50, and 80 meters. In terms of the density fit and various goodness-of-fit metrics, the BGL model outperforms its submodels (beta-Lindley, generalized Lindley, and Lindley) and other reference distributions, such as gamma, beta-Weibull, Weibull, beta-exponential, Log-Normal, and generalized extreme value. Furthermore, the BGL distribution shows robust accuracy at modeling the long right tail of wind speed, including the 95th and 99th percentiles and Anderson–Darling statistic at different heights. Therefore, we conclude that the BGL distribution is a strong alternative model for the wind speed distribution.