The electric generating capacity of Turkey must be tripled by 2010 to meet Turkey's electric power consumption, if the annual 8% growth in electric power consumption continues. Turkey has to make use of its renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar, not only to meet the increasing energy demand, but also for environmental reasons. Studies show that Iskenderun (36degrees 35'N; 36degrees 10'E) located on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is amongst the possible wind energy generation regions. In the present study, the wind energy potential of the region is statistically analyzed based on 1-year measured hourly time-series wind speed data. The probability density distributions are derived from time-series data and distributional parameters are identified. Two probability density functions are fitted to the measured probability distributions on a monthly basis. The wind energy potential of the location is studied based on the Weibull and the Rayleigh models. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.