Delineation of suitable sites for wind farm: A geospatial study in Jigawa state Nigeria

Abstract

Excessive use of fossil fuel contribute more carbon-dioxide to the ozone more than it can maintain which in turn leads to environmental/ecological unsustainability and global warming. The most effective strategy for de-carbonization is by substituting the power generation from fossil fuels with available sources of renewable energy. Determining suitable location for such project which will socially be acceptable and economically feasible largely depends on many factors such as environmental, economic, social and technical. The main objective of this study is to analyze and identify a better location for a utility scale wind farm to be connected to the national grid using GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making method. The designed methodology for this study considers seven factors which were classified into two main classes: Environmental and economic where maximum power output and minimum cost of the project will be achieved. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used for weighing the criteria and computation of land suitability index (LSI) to evaluate probable locations. In this study, the whole of Jigawa State of Nigeria was considered. In conclusion, the resultant output index was classified into four as “Low suitable”, “moderately suitable”, “suitable” and “highly suitable”. As a result, the total area of 2721.33km2 (11.8%) is “Highly suitable”, 14927.02km2 (65.02%) is “Suitable”, 5299.34km2 (23.08%) is “Moderately suitable” and 10.75km2 (0.05%) is “Low suitable�.