In this paper, the most important energy and exergy characteristics of wind energy were examined. Atmospheric variables as air temperature, humidity and pressure and their effects on the wind turbine output were investigated toward wind energy exploitation. It was shown that these usually disregarded meteorological parameters while planning new WFs (Wind Farms), in fact, do play an important role in the farm's overall exergetic efficiency. The wind potential around a coastal mountainous area was studied based on field measurements. Understanding atmospheric parameters variation appears to be of great importance for estimating energy yield in rough terrain and in this paper special focus was given to that. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.