MODELLING AND PREDICTION OF WIND SPEED AND WIND TURBINE HUB HEIGHT FOR MAXIMUM POWER DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Mechanical Engineering

The study, modeling and prediction of wind speed and wind turbine hub height for maximum power development in Nigeria, was successfully carried out. Researchers achieved the study using variable study locations chosen to cover all the major cities in Nigeria to ensure that the values of the results could be applicable to nearby communities. Furthermore, wind speed and elevation data gotten from NASA website were prepared in excel and imported into matlab for modeling and prediction. Modeling computed both the linear and non linear models between wind speed and wind turbine hub height to ensure accuracy of results. Standard error for the non linear model was observed to be 45.027, with P-value of 0.891 and degrees of freedom 13 while root mean squared error was 192. General power graph, suggested that the relationship between wind turbine hub height and wind speed is nonlinear and wind turbine hub height is within the range of 200m to 300m. Also, standard error for the linear model was observed to be 55.792, with P-value 0.961 and degrees of freedom 13 while root mean squared error was 192. The P-value and degrees of freedom of the generated linear model are consistent with the P-value and degrees of freedom of anova model, and non linear model, that proves correctness/accuracy of the model. In addition, prediction shows that at site wind speed of 4 m/s, the expected wind turbine hub height for maximum power development was 239.74 m. Researchers made the following recommendations: To avoid failure of wind turbine and poor operational performance, wind turbine hub height must be computed to make appropriate choice of tower material, etc.Keywords ---- wind turbine hub height, wind speed, modeling, prediction, matlab, anova, NASA.

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