• Cryptocurrency
  • Earnings
  • Enterprise
  • About TechBooky
  • Submit Article
  • Advertise Here
  • Contact Us
TechBooky
  • African
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Gadgets
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • African
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Gadgets
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
TechBooky
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Home Energy

From Scotland to the US, Wind Power Is Becoming A Real Thing But Not In Africa. Here’s Why

Paul Balo by Paul Balo
December 5, 2016
in Energy
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Wind energy is no doubt going to play a role in the future of electricity generation no matter how little and if you’re familiar with power generation, sometime what is generated is usually small. But at transmission, there are step-up transformers this voltage through the grid before they are stepped down for home use.  

But many countries especially the coastal ones in Africa still haven’t found a way to tap into this but just a quick example of nations where wind power is being used.

If you know about Scotland then you may also know that it us about the best example there is for this. On a particular weekend in August, wind turbines generated 106 percent of the entire country’s electricity needs. According to data provided by Weather Energy and analysed by WWF Scotland, Scottish wind turbines provided 39,545 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity to the national grid on Sunday. Scotland actually needs 37,545 MWh of electricity to power homes and businesses according to the company. This means the turbines generated 106 percent which is in excess of what the country actually needs.

In the United States, Deepwater Wind; a Rhode Island based company that operates wind farms is on track to becoming the first offshore wind farm to deliver energy by the end of this year.

“We’re very proud that two world-class, U.S. companies have chosen to invest in America’s first offshore wind farm,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “Their backing is a testament to the significance of this project and the strength of the American offshore wind industry.”

Deepwater Wind completed construction on the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm in August, and commercial operations are expected to begin in November. The role of the D.E. Shaw group, principal owner of Deepwater Wind, remains unchanged with the addition of the two tax equity investors.

The same company is planning a 90MW 15-turbine project that will power 50,000 homes in New York in the near future and construction is set to begin in 2019.

Microsoft announced last month that its Wyoming data centre will be 100 percent wind powered. Before that announcement though, Facebook had announced last year that it was investing in a 200MW wind power project for its data centre in Fort Worth, Texas.

Now Utility-scale wind power plants require minimum average wind speeds of 6 m/s and you see it’s not that even much wind speed needed to drive the turbines meaning we don’t even need as much as the Scottish speeds to begin generating electric power from wind. Right now electricity generation in Nigeria which has a population of 180 million people is about 4,000MW and has hardly crossed 5,000MW in the last 10 years especially. There was a time it fell to as low as 1,500 and yet there’s abundance of gas but no electricity. In a paper titled “WIND SPEED DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTERISTICS IN NIGERIA” by M. S. Adaramola and O. M. Oyewola, they noted that average wind speeds in Nigeria range from about 2 m/s to about 4 m/s with highest average speeds of about 3.5 m/s and 7.5 m/s in the south and north areas, respectively. Now there are areas with wind speeds of 9 m/s and over and as you might expect, these areas are in remote areas with no possible access for any form of investment. Now let’s note that the speeds measured in the paper are not necessarily off the coasts which and once you put that into consideration, then you can expect much higher speeds. Yet there has been no mention of this technology anywhere in Nigeria. The current administration however has not hidden its intentions to invest in nuclear energy which is relatively a more expensive technology for a country that’s in a recession and is in need of external loans badly at the moment.

Nigeria is not alone in this, drive across the West African sub-region and you’ll hardly hear the word wind turbines. What is true for Southern and Northern Nigeria is true for countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Liberia among others. States with abundance of wind can invest in this to power industries and small businesses to boost the economy. Right now Nigeria and other countries with electricity shortage can look to wind and solar in addition to fossil energy.

Related Posts:

  • AA1qpww9
    Google and Kairos Partner on Nuclear Micro-reactors…
  • Hydrogen,Renewable,Energy,Production,-,Hydrogen,Gas,For,Clean,Electricity
    Understanding Hydrogen Energy As A Climate Change Solution
  • kenya-power-CS-main
    Kenya Power Sets To Innovate The Domestic Market…
  • bendable-iphone
    Koolboks Plans To Scale Its Expansion Across Nigeria…
  • koolboks
    Cooling Company Koolboks Raises $2.5m, Plans Nigeria…
  • 5G.-Photo-Shutterstock
    There Are New Opportunities For Utilities Through 5G
  • gettyimages-654153362
    Google’s Carbon Emission On The Rise Thanks To AI
  • ev accessory
    Why You Should Buy This Car Accessory for Electric Cars

Discover more from TechBooky

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Tags: clean energydeepwater windrenewable energyrhode islandscotlandunited stateswind turbine
Paul Balo

Paul Balo

Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

Select Category

    Receive top tech news directly in your inbox

    subscription from
    Loading

    Freshly Squeezed

    • Vietnam Will Soon block Telegram, App Owners are Surprised May 24, 2025
    • Widespread Downtime Reported By X Users May 24, 2025
    • MongoDB Enters Africa Through Nigeria Targeting $100B Digital Market May 24, 2025
    • Meta Quest’s Headgear Will Soon Support 3D Instagram Images May 24, 2025
    • Mozilla To Shut Down Pocket To Concentrate On Firefox May 24, 2025
    • OpenAI Upgrades Operator Agent’s AI Model May 24, 2025

    Browse Archives

    May 2025
    MTWTFSS
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    262728293031 
    « Apr    

    Quick Links

    • About TechBooky
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact us
    • Submit Article
    • Privacy Policy
    • Login

    © 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite

    Generic selectors
    Exact matches only
    Search in title
    Search in content
    Post Type Selectors
    • African
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Gadgets
    • Metaverse
    • Tips
    • About TechBooky
    • Advertise Here
    • Submit Article
    • Contact us

    © 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite

    Discover more from TechBooky

    Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

    Continue reading

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok