20May 2017

ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR ENERGY AND WIND PARAMETERS IN NAIVASHA, KENYA.

  • Institute of Environmental and Energy Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
  • Department of Physics. Jomo Kenyatta university of Agriculture and Technology.
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Solar energy is one of the most reliable sources of renewable energies (RE) and it contributes to the existence of other renewable energy sources. Due to variation of the Sun temperatures and wind patterns, it influences the availability of hydro power, solar energy and wind regimes which can be harnessed using different technologies. Mainly solar energy is used in drying, cooking, water purification, heating and power generation. Wind energy, though intermittent has been used mainly for water pumping and to a lesser extent for power generation. In this study the potential of solar energy and wind energy were assessed to depict the suitability of its usage in Naivasha (- 0? 43\' 1.8408\'\' S and 36? 25\' 51.6936\'\' E) and its environs. Naivasha has tourist attraction sites and therefore energy demand is very high in lodges, restaurants and other public amenities. Irradiance data (kW/m2) and wind speeds (m/s) were collected and recorded per second for seven hours of sunshine per day and in 24 hours for wind speeds during the sampled period of the study (three months). The results showed that the site had maximum average wind speed of 4 m/s at 10 m height. The recorded insolation varied between a low of 1.21kWh/m2 to a highest of 6.5kWh/m2 while the irradiance ranged between 172W/m2 and 925W/m2 respectively.

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[L. Thimo, J. Kamau and R. Kinyua. (2017); ASSESSMENT OF SOLAR ENERGY AND WIND PARAMETERS IN NAIVASHA, KENYA. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 5 (May). 495-502] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Laban Thimo
3Institute of Environmental and Energy Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/4136      
DOI URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/4136

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