TITLE:
On the Remapping and Identification of Potential Wind Sites in Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Zaccheus O. Olaofe
KEYWORDS:
ERA-Interim Wind Components, Grid Resolutions, Relative Error, Distance-Weighted Remapping, Bilinear Interpolation, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.7 No.10,
September
28,
2015
ABSTRACT: The ERA-Interim reanalysis wind based on the distance-weighted average remapping for studying the wind circulation in Nigeria is presented. The wind flow using this atmospheric model simulation is studied for identification of grid-tie electrification opportunities in different wind locations. A 10-year reanalysis wind speed components at a surface level of the planetary layer at 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution is obtained and remapped into a new horizontal wind field at a grid resolution of 0.125° × 0.125° covering longitudinal and latitudinal directions of 3.0 - 15.0°E and 15.0 - 3.0°N, respectively. Using the distance-weighted average technique, the remapped wind field at a new grid resolution of 0.125° × 0.125° is compared at different terrain elevations and approximated close to the actual wind field of the same resolution. To determine the suitability of the prevailing wind for small-scale energy conversion, the magnitude of wind flow across the remapped wind field is studied for a 10-year period. Analysis shows that northern regions of Nigeria have a fair wind potential for a stand-alone application based on the wind flow originated at Gulf of Guinea as well as Chad and Niger. Furthermore, hourly surface wind speed observations from 18 synoptic stations in Nigeria are obtained and compared with the bilinear interpolated wind stations. The reanalysis wind reflects the surface wind observations and proves that the prevailing wind in Nigeria is higher than the reanalysis wind projection obtained from gridded data at resolution of 0.125° × 0.125°. The sectorwise wind directions at each synoptic stations for a period of 10 years are presented.