title: Assessments of wind-energy potential in selected sites from three geopolitical zones in Nigeria: implications for renewable/sustainable rural electrification.
abstract: Electricity generation in rural communities is an acute problem militating against socioeconomic well-being of the populace in these communities in developing countries, including Nigeria. In this paper, assessments of wind-energy potential in selected sites from three major geopolitical zones of Nigeria were investigated. For this, daily wind-speed data from Katsina in northern, Warri in southwestern and Calabar in southeastern Nigeria were analysed using the Gumbel and the Weibull probability distributions for assessing wind-energy potential as a renewable/sustainable solution for the country's rural-electrification problems. Results showed that the wind-speed models identified Katsina with higher wind-speed class than both Warri and Calabar that were otherwise identified as low wind-speed sites. However, econometrics of electricity power simulation at different hub heights of low wind-speed turbine systems showed that the cost of electric-power generation in the three study sites was converging to affordable cost per kWh of electric energy from the wind resource at each site. These power simulations identified cost/kWh of electricity generation at Kaduna as €0.0507, at Warri as €0.0774, and at Calabar as €0.0819. These bare positive implications on renewable/sustainable rural electrification in the study sites even as requisite options for promoting utilization of this viable wind-resource energy in the remote communities in the environs of the study sites were suggested.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Covenant University, Ota 112001, Nigeria.
authors: Joshua Olusegun
authors: JO
authors: Okeniyi
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Covenant University, Ota 112001, Nigeria.
authors: Olayinka Soledayo
authors: OS
authors: Ohunakin
authors: Department of Petroleum Engineering, Covenant University, Ota 112001, Nigeria.
authors: Elizabeth Toyin
authors: ET
authors: Okeniyi
mesh_terms: D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D004560:Electricity; D006801:Humans; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009549:Nigeria; D011210:Power Plants / Q000191:economics; D059205:Renewable Energy / Q000191:economics*; D012424:Rural Population; D014919:Wind