Wind Energy Potential of Northern Nigeria: The Case of Sokoto, Maiduguri, Kano and Bauchi

This study used thirty years (1988–2018) wind data collected at 10m height at four study sites in northern Nigeria accessed from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Lagos. From the data, the annual mean wind speed, annual average power density (APD), annual average energy density (AED), the Weibull parameters, and , and other relevant functions were computed and analysed using the Microsoft Excel 2013 software package. The study found that the annual mean wind speed ranged between 5.15m/s and 8.99m/s in Sokoto, 4.07m/s to 7.73m/s in Maiduguri, 4.75m/s to 8.42m/s in Kano and 3.99m/s to 7.45m/s in Bauchi. The Weibull shape parameter ( ) ranged from 3.04 to 7.37 in Sokoto, 2.1 to 4.5 in Maiduguri, 2.86 to 8.14 in Kano and 2.35 to 5.42in Bauchi. The Weibull scale parameter ( ) ranged from 5.73 to 9.89 in Sokoto, 4.6 to 8.74in Maiduguri, 5.35 to 15.72 in Kano and 2.35 to 5.42 in Bauchi. The annual average power density (APD) for Sokoto was 159.17W/m2, 123.03 W/m2 for Maiduguri, 156.61W/m2 for Kano and 108.70 W/m2 for Bauchi. The findings further revealed that the annual average energy density (AED) was 116.96Kwh/m2 for Sokoto, 89.91Kwh/m2 for Maiduguri, 112.44Kwh/m2 for Kano and 78.79 Kwh/m2 for Bauchi. The study outcome indicates that Sokoto and Kano sites are suitable for grid-connected applications while the Maiduguri and Bauchi sites are recommendable for limited uses such as in homes, battery charging and pumping of water among rural communities. The findings show that there is a good prospect to produce electricity from wind energy to enhance business activities in northern Nigeria.