Fortschritte in der angewandten Wissenschaftsforschung Offener Zugang

Abstrakt

Wind energy potential of Ban village

Maren. I. Borok, Gyang Y. Pam and Dangana M. Kulla

An evaluation of wind energy resource was undertaken to determine the suitability of wind energy development in the areas of wind pump and electricity generation technologies in Ban village, Plateau state, Nigeria. Ten year hourly wind speed data measured at 10 m height was collected from the meteorological unit of Jos airport, which was used to determine the mean monthly wind speed, annual wind speed and the wind speed distribution. Wind Energy Resource Analysis (WERA) software was also used to determine the Weibull distribution factors, energy density, most frequent wind speed and the wind velocity contributing to maximum energy using the raw wind speed data collected. This study indicates that Ban village has a mean annual wind speed of 4.84 m/s, (which is about twice the value of the minimum wind speed required for wind pump application), the Weibull shape factor of about 2 and the Weibull scale factor of over 4 m/s which are indicators of high wind energy potential. This information will be helpful to government and any organisation to make an informed decision regarding investment in wind energy technology in Ban village.