Harnessing and Modelling Wind Power Plant with Permanent Magnet Syncrhonous Generator for Power Generation in Nigeria

Nigeria has tremendous energy resources in the form of abundant gas, water and mineral resources. Yet, it is highly energy deficient. The country is rated first among the oil producing countries in Africa with average of 2.5 million barrel per day, with highest natural gas reserve in Africa of 176 trillion cubic feet. Mathematical modeling of wind turbine system design technology suitable for Nigeria has been developed in this work taking into account wind speed distribution in Nigeria in as much as it is assumed to be the geographical location in this paper. The wind turbine system designed generates three phase current whose rms values ranges from 0.2093 to 2.2996 for relatively low wind speeds ranging from 2m/s to 10m/s. It also generates three phase voltage whose rms values ranges from 35.9097 to 397.850 with electromagnetic power whose steady state value ranges from16.2624 to1945.5 for relatively low wind speeds ranging from 2m/s to 10m/s. These values of the generated current are sufficient for steady electricity generation to power home appliances. The investigation has revealed that wind turbine system design is a tool that can aid further research and development of more efficient turbines for Nigeria. Wind energy generation feasibility and implementation has been achieved in this study showing that even in the tropical regions of Nigeria, wind energy is an economically feasible competition to hydrocarbon combustion generators. The design method and the components used in this paper will not only reduce cost of design but will also reduce the cost of maintenance, thus making it very economical and affordable. It is recommended that since in the northern parts of Nigeria where wind speeds up to 15m/s, wind farms can be built like those in the more developed countries to support the existing grid system. Modern technologies and control techniques can provide power at frequencies steady enough to be synchronized with the grid system.

Keywords: Nigeria, wind, renewable, turbines.