An Economic Analysis on the Viability of Harnessing Wind Energy for Power Generation in Kaduna State, Nigeria

This paper presents an economic analysis on the viability of harnessing wind power for power generation in Kaduna State, based on wind data analysis of Kaduna and Zaria. The available wind power density of both Kaduna and Zaria of 246.69 W/m 2 and 296.76 W/m 2 respectively shows that Kaduna and Zaria can harness wind power for power generation at utility scale. How economical this would be in the long run is what this paper seeks to analyse. The one-time cost of planting a 300MW capacity wind turbines in either Kaduna or Zaria was found to be $716,680,000, which does not include the annual variable costs of $17,927,750.2. With the assumption that capital would be loaned from a bank at 7% interest to pay back in 30 years, the annual capital payment is estimated to be $57,754,663.67. Considering capacity factor, line losses, and a total annual costs of $90,121,079.79, the average cost of electricity per kWh was estimated as $0.0909.