Geospatial Analysis of Solar Energy Potentials in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study applied geospatial techniques to analyze solar energy potentials in Kebbi State. Solar radiation and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the area were used as input data. The DEM was used to generate slope and slope aspect. The slope, slope aspect and solar radiation of the study area were reclassified and weighted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results of the weighted overlay revealed that about 1912Km 2 of the study area have moderate solar energy potential, 2383Km 2 have good solar energy potential while 12325.48Km 2 have very good solar energy potential. The analysis also revealed that Arewa Dandi LGA has the highest mean solar radiation energy of 5.53KWh/m 2 /day, Birnin Kebbi has 5.41KWh/m 2 /day while Ngaski has the lowest mean solar radiation energy of 4.80KWh/m 2 /day. There is the need to further study the factors that are responsible for the spatial variation in solar energy potentials in the study area.