Study of Potential Sites for Solar PV Power Plant Implementation in the City of Niamey Using GIS Approach

Abstract

Nowadays, the daily debates, conferences, and news are about climate energy and environmental issues in the world. The consumption of fossil fuel is the main cause of global warming due to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to a change in the climate system. Niger is an under developed country and has significant energy potential, rich and varied that is weakly exploited due to political issues. Most of the energy used in Niger is sold by Nigeria Using renewable energy in the city of Niamey which contributes to over 50% of the total national electricity demand in Niger (NIGELEC, 2016) will reduce the power-cuts that have been observed. The main goal of the study was to determine suitable locations for PV installation in Niamey for socio-economic development. The multi criteria analysis and satellite images were classified and used to generate different maps used in this study. Tree sites had been selected among the best suitable places: sites A with 22.5% of the best suitable place (12.154km2), sites B 53.33% of the best suitable place (28.82 km2) and site C 10.23% of the best suitable place (5.53 km2). Electric power generation potential per year for the selected sites was found to be 45.13*106 kwh/day based on the calculated average annual solar radiation per unit surface area per day, the total suitable area, and the efficiency of the PV panel.