Analysis of Solar Energy Potentials in Katsina and Sokoto States, Nigeria

Abstract

For many years, Nigeria has been facing energy crisis that is hampering her economic development. Energy is one of the key fundamentals for economic development and it is also fundamental to all human activities in this era. In this study, renewable energy potentials in Sokoto and Katsina states were analyzed respectively. Data covering a period of ten years (2007 - 2017) were obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Abuja, for monthly average daily solar radiation, maximum and minimum temperatures for the two states under investigations. The data were subjected to statistical analysis such as normality test, to examine whether the data is normally distributed using standardized coefficient of skewness, and kurtosis using a 250 Watts by 1.68m square solar panel; the results show that the solar radiations are negatively skewed by a value of -0.6 and -0.43, which makes the two states more reliable during the dry season of the year. The two states have a kurtosis of -1.17 and -1.38 indicating that the bell shape is slightly flatten than normal distribution shape. A linear regression model was also developed to predict the trends in solar radiation for the study area. The results show that Katsina state has a higher reliability (0.86) for solar energy potentials than Sokoto state (0.72).