TITLE:
Assessment of Wind Energy Potential as a Power Generation Source in Five Locations of South Western Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Nnawuike Nze-Esiaga, Emmanuel C. Okogbue
KEYWORDS:
Wind Power, Wind Speed, Weibull Parameters, Southwestern Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.2 No.5,
May
5,
2014
ABSTRACT:
In this study, the wind
speed characteristics and energy potential in five selected locations in the
southwestern part of Nigeria were investigated using monthly mean wind speed
data of 51 years obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency. The data were
subjected to the 2-parameter-Weibull and other statistical analyses. The
outcome showed that the wind speed measured at a height of 10 m ranged from 1.3
to 13.2 m/s while the modal wind speed ranges from 3.0 to 5.9 m/s. 83.6% of the
data were found to be greater than 3.0 m/s. The average monthly wind speed
ranged from 2.72 to 7.72 m/s. Seasonally, average wind speeds ranged between
3.47 to 6.55 m/s and 3.83 to 6.94 m/s for dry (October to March) and wet (April
to September) seasons, respectively. The two parameters of the Weibull
statistics were found to lie between 2.99 ≤ k ≤ 5.32 and 3.02 ≤ c ≤ 8.57,
respectively. The annual mean power densities are 65.09, 145.07, 176.96, 387.07
and 87.34 W/m2 for Abeokuta, Akure, Ibadan, Ikeja and Oshogbo
respectively. It was further shown that the respective mean annual values of
the most probable wind speed are 3.82, 4.97, 5.23, 7.03 and 4.01 m/s, while the
annual values of the wind speed carrying maximum energy are 4.12, 5.48, 5.87,
7.50 and 4.55 m/s. These results indicate
that wind speed has the viable potential for wind-to-electricity at
height of 10 m for most of the locations assessed but it will be more viable in
all the stations at a height above 10 m.