Assessment of Solar and Hydropower Energy Potentials of Three Rural Communities in Nigeria

Abstract

Prior to planning a renewable energy project, it is essential to first determine the abundance of the renewable energy resources available at the site of interest. Equally important is the information of the present and future electrical energy demand of the community to serve. This paper presents a resource assessment for hydropower and solar energy production in a cluster of three off-grid rural communities in Nigeria. A hydrological gauge is installed along the available river section to measure the water level for a period of one year, and water velocity with Flow Probe. The average daily solar irradiance of 265 W/m2 is obtained from a seven-year data collected from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency for the site. With a projection of a total annual energy demand of 176.7 MWh in the first year and 229 MWh in the tenth year, the annual energy generation from the hydropower is estimated at 2,624 MWh with a capacity factor of 0.83. Meanwhile, a solar panel of 300 W capacity is estimated to produce 442.36 kWh annually. Conveniently, the production from the two energy sources is more than adequate for the communities.