HARNESSING WIND RENEWABLE ENERGY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The research aims to harness wind renewable energy in Nigeria. The monthly mean wind speed of 20 anemometer stations data was acquired from the archives of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria, covering the years 1951 to 2012. The descriptive statistical method was used in this study to better comprehend data characteristics and variances using mean wind speed statiscal and mann-kendall’s test and Matlab software. The application aims to detail data behaviors, situations, events, and results from 1951 to 2012 and assess their statistical importance. The coefficients of variations (CV), which range from 19.87% to 50.32%, are large, according to the statistical findings. Higher CV and monthly mean daily wind speeds are typically found in the country's north. According to the findings, the northwestern cities displayed a bimodal maxima that took place in the winter months of December, January, and February as well as in the early summer months of June. The north eastern and north central cities similarly reported the highest wind speeds in March, April, and May. Similarly, the northern region's mimima was observed from late summer (August) to mid-autumn (September, October, and November).The cities in the southwest experienced their highest wind speed in the spring (March and April) and summer (July and August). Their minima was recorded in late autumn (November). The south eastern region recorded maxima during spring (March and April) and the minima occurred in late autumn (November).The northern region recorded the best and highest mean wind speed where Kano recorded the maximum wind speed mean of 7.900 m/s and Yelwa having recorded the minima wind speed mean of 3.524 among the northern region. while the western region recorded the poorest mean wind speed of 2.966 m/s by Oshogbo and their highest recorded mean wind speed is 4.635 m/s recorded by Lagos (Ikeja). Hence, Nigeria’s northern region is a good place to generate wind power