Spatial Distribution Patterns of Urban Energy Installations in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria

In the location of private and public energy installations in urban areas, the major factors that stakeholders and policymakers consider are accessibility to transportation and telecommunication networks, raw materials, market, security of earnings, attitude of government, community and ultimately profit generation with little or no recourse for the safety implication for lives, properties and the environment. The study examined the spatial distribution pattern of an energy installation, Liquefied Petroleum Gas stations in Port Harcourt metropolis, using a cross-sectional design for 79 licensed stations. The dataset was subjected to cartographic analysis within the ArcGIS environment to examine the spatial distribution of Gas stations. Weighted standard distance was computed to measure the compactness or degree of concentration around the geometric mean Centre. Weighted and Standard Deviational Ellipses (SDE) were also computed to represent the directional distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas stations to measure the directional trend. The study found that the metropolis has a clustered pattern tending towards the developing North-West and North-East end in Obio-Akpor and Ikwerre axis, while being randomly placed in the Port Harcourt, Eleme, and Oyigbo ends. The paper therefore recommends that hazardous energy installations should not be located close to individuals, households, and communities, but be relocated to areas with less population, considering safe distances and buffer zones in the design and scoping stages of hazardous facilities installation by planners. The paper further recommends that continuous research should be carried out by the government through the regulatory agency, research bodies, and academia on ways of reducing the impact of hazardous energy installations on the population and environment to foster sustainable development.