Assessment of Three Selected Locations in Nigeria as Offshore Windfarms Using Multi-criteria Decision Procedure

Abstract

The continuous rise in carbon footprints arising from industrial and domestic activities has placed urgent need on renewable energy sources globally. Wind as a renewable energy source is gaining global prominence because it can be harnessed in small and commercial quantities. Several studies have been carried out on the subject of wind energy. However, this paper is focused on multicriteria evaluation of three Nigerian coastal locations (Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Warri) for consideration for installation of offshore wind farm to improve energy availability in the country. In this paper, attributes for offshore wind farm location were collected for three locations in Nigeria; Victoria Island (VI) in Lagos, Abbonema area of River State and Koko area of Warri. Ten-year wind speed data for the three locations were also collected from the archive of Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET), while other required factors were collected with the use of a well-structured Questionnaire and the respondents were senior staff of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and NIMET. Collected data were analyzed using Multi-Criteria analysis tool (TOPSIS). Average of a ten-year wind speed data for Lagos (VI), Koko (Warri) and Abonemma (Rivers) were 6.251m/s, 7.294m/s and 7.347m/s respectively. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) gave a Consistency Index of 0.123029264 and Consistency Ratio of 0.084266619. The consistency ratios from the AHP were used to calculate the required Criteria Weight (Cw) for the TOPSIS analysis. From the cumulative value of the analysed factors, Victoria Island (Lagos) has the highest figure of 233.6677 with a consideration rate of 38% and this places it above Koko (Warri) and Abonnema (Rivers) with a value of 187.7704 (30%) and 195.4377844 (32%). Based on the analysis carried out, Victoria Island Lagos appears to be the best option for offshore wind farm consideration.