Evaluation of Wind Power Density in North West Nigeria

A. Ahmed[1], S.O. Salihu[2] , K. Ayuba[3]
Page No. 38-46

In this paper, the wind speed data for northwest Nigeria (Kano and Sokoto) were collected from
meteorological station NIMET, Abuja for the period of 1990 – 2006 at 10m height. The study was
carried out using Weibull and Rayleigh models distribution function. The shape factor for Kano and
Sokoto varies between 4.45 – 10.68 and 3.30 – 9.27 while the scale factor varies between 7.34 –
11.24ms-1 and 5.54 – 9.32ms-1 respectively. The average Weibull probability density functions were
obtained as 0.484 and 0.482 while Rayleigh was obtained as 0.849 and 0.791 respectively. In Kano
the power density for Weibull varies between 281.41W/m2 – 983.97W/m2 and Rayleigh varies
between 390.06 W/m2 – 1497.2W/m2. In Sokoto the Weibull power density varies from 124.88W/m2
– 567.12W/m2 and Rayleigh power varies from 157.27W/m2 – 829.25W/m2. The error in estimating
power density for Weibull have an average value of 23.33% and for Rayleigh is 61.29% in Kano,
while for Sokoto the error in estimating power density for Weibull have an average value of 30.95%
and for Rayleigh is 65.18%.
Keywords: Analysis, Power density, Nigeria, Wind energy, Wind class, Rayleigh, Weibull