Investigation of Wind Energy Resource on the Basis of Weibull and Rayleigh Models in North Eastern and Western, Nigeria

Abstract

This study is aimed to investigate wind energy resource on the basis of Weibull and Rayleigh models in north eastern (Bauchi and Maiduguri) and western (Kano and Sokoto) Nigeria, seventeen years (2000-2016) monthly wind speed data were collected from Nigeria meteorological station, Abuja at 10m height. The probability distribution function (pdf) of wind speed is very important tool needed in wind energy resource investigation, since wind power is proportional to the cube of wind speed. The Weibull parameters shape (k) and scale (c) for the four locations were determined and the values obtained for shape factors in Bauchi and Maiduguri range from 6.91 to 7.21 and Sokoto and Kano range from 9.27 to 10.68, while scale factors is in the range of 3.46 to 7.24 and 9.32 to 11.24, respectively. The Weibull model was found to be better fit than the Rayleigh model in analyzing the wind speed data. The north western part of Nigeria was found to have higher wind power density as compared to the north eastern part of the country.