THE ROLE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN IMPROVING THE FUTURE ENERGY SECURITY IN NIGERIA

THE ROLE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN IMPROVING THE FUTURE ENERGY SECURITY IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
Energy security is a goal that many countries are pursuing to ensure that their economies function without
interruption and that their people have access to adequate, reliable and affordable supplies of modern and
clean energy. It is a pressing concern because the demand for energy is growing rapidly due to robust
economic expansion, population growth, new uses of energy and income growth, and yet the supplies of
energy resources required to power these needs are finite and, in most cases, non-renewable as in the case
of Nigeria. Furthermore, the production, transportation and utilization of these energy are a major source
of greenhouse gases that cause global warming and climate change. This paper presents a comprehensive
review of how renewable energies can be adopted in ensuring reliable and continuous supplies of energy
relative to demand, energy situation in the country is also discussed, current status energy supply and
various application of renewable energy in Nigeria were examine and the way forward to accessible,
affordable as well as continuous availability of clean power source were also considered.
Keywords: Renewable energy, Energy security
INTRODUCTION
Energy is a critical resource that all economies require to produce goods and services and to enhance
human, social, and economic wellbeing. It is needed by various industries as an input into the production of
goods and services, for transportation, and by households for heating, cooking, lighting and powering
domestic appliances. Empirical studies show that energy consumption is positively correlated with indices
of economic growth and wellbeing. This is why the provision of energy to most of the world’s population
has been identified as a criterion for assessing progress towards sustainable development. Both developed
and developing countries, however, face a myriad of energy challenges that include inadequate and
unsuitable supplies of energy sources, energy supply uncertainties, high and fluctuating prices of energy,
and environmental pollution and degradation as a result of the production, distribution, and use of energy.
For countries like Nigeria that rely heavily on non-renewable energy sources such as oil, natural gas, coal
from politically unstable southern regions, additional risks stem from the threats of disruption to energy
supplies and the destabilizing effects of such disruptions to their economies and energy markets.
In Nigeria, oil fields become main target for sabotage because of how heavily the country rely on oil to
power their various generating stations. Due to the theories in peak oil and the need to curb demand on
oil, there is need to adopt the deployment of renewable technologies to provide alternative sources of
electric power as well as displacing electricity demand through direct heat production. Renewable biofuels
for transport represent a key source of diversification from petroleum products. As the resources that have
been so crucial to survival in the world today start declining in numbers, countries will begin to realize that
the need for renewable fuel sources will be as vital as ever. With the production of new types of energy,
including solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biofuels and wind power. Also, with the amount of solar energy
that hits the world in one hour, there is enough energy to power the world for one year. With the addition
of solar panels all around the world a little less pressure is taken off the need to produce more oil.
Geothermal can potentially lead the other sources of fuel if companies would take the heat from the inner
core of the earth to heat up water sources, we could essentially use the steam creating from the heated
water to power machines, this option is one of the cleanest and efficient options. Hydro-electric which has
been incorporated into many of the dams around the world produces allot of energy and is very easy to
produce energy as the dams control the water that is allowed through stems which power turbines located
inside of the dam. For countries such as the United States, these challenges are intricately linked to their
national security. In the case of Nigeria, these challenges have undermined their prospects of economic
development and constrained our efforts to alleviate poverty and improve the standards of living of their
peoples. They have also had an adverse impact on the economy. This chapter examines energy security
with a focus on its nature and meaning, the role of renewable energy sources toward achieving stable and
interrupted power supply at affordable rate, and some policy measures that can be used to enhance energy
security.
1.0 Current Energy Scenario in Nigeria
Nigeria is a rich country blessed with both fossil fuels such as crude oil, natural gas, coal, etc, and renewable
energy resources like solar, wind, hydro and biomass. Details of this are shown in Table 1 constructed with
data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Renewable Energy Masterplan and
Ministry of Mines and Steel Development [17]. It is seen from the table that Nigeria has a reserve of 36.22
billion barrels of crude oil, 187 trillion Standard Cubic Foot (SCF) of natural gas at standard temperature and
pressure (60 degrees F and sea level), and 2.374 billion tons of coal and lignite of which virtually nothing
has been tapped. The Nigeria’s reserve for large hydropower is estimated at 11,250 MW and 3,500 MW for
small hydropower. Nigeria has a reserve of 11 million hectares of forest and woodland and 72 million
hectares of agricultural land waste land. Based on the available statistics, Nigeria produces about 227,500
tons of fresh animal wastes daily. If fully utilized, this quantity is equivalent to 6.8 million m3 of biogas
production every day [18].
Despite this abundance of energy resources in Nigeria, the country is currently facing energy crisis due to
the country’s grossly inadequate energy supply that is incapable to meet the ever-growing demand.
Essentially, the major energy-consuming activities in Nigerian households are cooking, lighting and use of
electrical appliances.
To date, the national energy supply in Nigeria is entirely dominated by fossil fuels. Renewable energy
resources are grossly underutilized in the country despite their availability in reasonable quantities.
petroleum has constituted over 80% of the commercial primary energy consumed in the country. However,
it is paradoxical to say that in spite of Nigeria’s rich oil and gas sector, 58% of the population do not have
access to electricity which is a secondary form of energy fueled by the petroleum with which Nigeria is
richly endowed.
2.0 Energy Security
The International Energy Agency (IEA) that was formed in the 1970s to coordinate a robust response to
disruptions to oil supplies defines energy security as the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an
affordable rate. Bohi and Toman define energy insecurity as the loss of welfare that may occur as a result of
a change in the price or availability of energy. Cherp and Jewell assert that energy security is an instance of
security in general and define energy security as “low vulnerability of vital energy systems”. Thus, in the
United States, the focus of energy security has traditionally been on the reduction of vulnerability to
political extortion following the economic hardships experienced in the aftermath of the oil embargo by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in the 1970s. This is also the reason why policy
makers in the United States strongly support the goals of energy independence and raising the shares of
renewable energy. Winzer [11] further notes that in several developing countries, the goal of energy
security has been to protect the poor against commodity price volatility. He defines energy security as
continuity of energy supplies relative to energy demand. According to Andrews [12] and Jun et al. [13],
energy security means assuring adequate, reliable supplies of energy at reasonable prices and in ways that
do not jeopardize major national values and objectives. Intharak et al. [14] define energy security as the
ability of an economy to guarantee the availability of energy supply in a sustainable and timely manner with
the energy price being at a level that will not adversely affect economic performance. Their definition thus
embodies three fundamental aspects, namely, physical energy security which is the availability and
accessibility of energy supply sources; economic energy security which is the affordability of resource
acquisition and energy infrastructure development; and, environmental sustainability which entails using
energy resources in ways that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs [15]. According to Grubb et al. [16] and Kruyt et al. [17], security of
supply is a system’s ability to provide a flow of energy to meet demand in an economy in a manner and
price that does not disrupt the course of the economy. They further point out that non-secure energy
systems are characterized by sharp energy price increases, reduction in quality, sudden supply
interruptions, and long-term disruptions of supply. Sovacool [18, 19, 20, 21], Sovacool and Brown [22],
Sovacool and Mukherjee [23], Sovacool et al. [24], Brown and Sovacool [25], and Badea et al. [26] define
energy security as equitably providing available, affordable, reliable, efficient, and environmentally benign
energy services to end users. Brown et al. [27] opine that energy security has to do with questions of
reliable energy supplies, regional concentration of energy resources, and the implications of strategic
withholding of energy. They point out specific aspects of energy security such as electricity reliability,
natural gas and petroleum security, and the vulnerability of the entire energy supply chain. They also
maintain that robust global coordination of responses to energy supply shock is critical to energy security.
According to APERC [28], energy security consists of 4A’s namely, availability, accessibility, acceptability,
and affordability.
Energy Security entails: the availability of energy resources that are diverse, sustainable in quantities,
affordable in prices, supports economic growth, assists in poverty alleviation measures, does not harm the
environment and that takes note of shocks and disruptions. A 1999 UNDP report defines energy security as
the continuous availability of energy in varied forms in sufficient quantities at reasonable prices [3]. Thus,
energy security does not only entail sufficient energy reserve or potentials but also its availability,
accessibility and affordability.
Although the definitions of energy security provided above are not exhaustive, they all illustrate the
importance of energy security, its multi-dimensional nature, and why many countries regard it as a policy
priority. In the short-term, energy security concerns focus on the ability of the energy system to react
promptly to sudden changes in the supply–demand balance. In the long-term, energy security concerns
have to do with timely investments in energy supply in line with economic developments and
environmental needs. At the multilateral and global levels, energy security has continued to receive
increasing attention as evidenced by Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the United Nations that requires
countries to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
3.0 Current Status of Renewable Energy Development in Nigeria
Nigeria is endowed with abundant renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, solar thermal,
wind, small hydropower and efficient biomass quantities. This section of the paper looks into the available
and potential of renewable energy resources in the country.
3.1 Biomass Energy
Biomass is any organic material from plants and animals that store sunlight in the form of chemical energy.
It is foreseen as one of the most important energy sources among the renewable energies in the near
future. Generally, sources of biomass include virgin wood, energy crops and agricultural residues, industrial
wastes, sawmill residues, etc. Biomass fuels are overwhelmingly the most important energy source for rural
households, agricultural production and rural industries particularly in developing countries [19]. Modern
biomass energy recycles organic waste from forestry and agriculture, like corn stovers, rice husks, wood
waste and pressed sugarcane, or uses special, fast-growing ‘‘energy crops’’ such as willow and switchgrass,
as fuel. Based on the US International Energy Agency (IEA) report, 11% of the world’s energy, both heat and
power, is currently derived from biomass [5].
The potential of biomass to help meet the global energy demand has been widely recognised in the
literature [27-29]. Depending on the type, when combusted, the chemical energy in biomass is released as
heat that is used to produce steam which could in turn be used to either drive a turbine for electricity
production or provide heat to industries and homes. To combust biomass involves burning it in air at a flow
rate of 4 – 5 kg of air per kg of biomass [6]. Biogas and biofuel technologies are now widely used to convert
organic biomass matters to gaseous and liquid states respectively.
There exists a huge potential for the successful deployment of biomass energy in Nigeria, most especially in
the rural agricultural areas. Majorly, the three forms of biomass available in Nigeria as shown in Table 1 are
fuelwood, animal wastes and energy crops and agricultural residues. According to a report, Nigeria has a
reserve of 11 million hectares of forest and woodland, 245 million assorted animals in 2001 and 28.2
million hectares of arable land, which is approximately equal to 30% of the total land. All these produce in
excess of 1.2 million tonnes of biomass per day [20]. In 1990, a total estimate of 1.2 PJ of biomass,
consisting of animal and agricultural wastes, and wood residues, was made for Nigeria. Furthermore,
research revealed in 2005 that bio-energy reserves/potential of Nigeria stood at 13 million hectares of
fuelwood, 61 million tonnes per year of animal waste, and 83 million tonnes of crop residues [30].
3.1.1 Fuelwood
Nigeria is naturally rich in fuelwood and is the most dominant biomass resource used in the country. It
accounts for 60% of the biomass used in the country with agricultural residues accounting for most of the
remaining 40%. Annually, Nigeria consumes over 50 million metric tonnes of fuelwood [31]. The annual
production of agricultural biomass is enormous due to the fact that about 94% and 68% of Nigerian
households are engaged in crop farming and livestock farming respectively. Currently, over 70% of the
population, most especially the rural dwellers, take wood as the main source of fuel. The reason behind this
is that these people cannot afford to pay for commercial cooking fuels such as kerosene and gas. Even
those that can afford the price are often forced to resort to using wood and charcoal in larger cities
whenever there is acute shortage of the cooking fuels in the country. However, excessive wood-gathering
activity, without replacement, has caused critical depletion of this resource. The expected implication of
this act on the environment is that woodlands run the risk of deforestation, which in turn increases the risk
of other hazards such as erosion and flood particularly in the South-eastern part of the country.
Vigorous research efforts have globally been made to develop more efficient woodstoves to replace the
inefficient traditional three-stone open fires commonly used for cooking in rural areas, as shown in Figure
6. These research efforts have started to yield positive results, one of which is the Save80. The Save80,
shown in Figure 7, is a high-quality energy efficiency metal cookstove that saves up to 80% of the required
firewood compared to the traditional open fires where only 5–10% of the wood is converted into heat
energy. It is developed specifically for use in areas with low fuelwood availability as well as in a number of
refugee camps throughout Africa. The “Efficient Wood Fuel Stoves for Nigeria” programme is a joint
initiative of the German NGOs, and a Nigerian counterpart, Developmental Association for Renewable
Energies (DARE) to promote dissemination of more efficient cooking stoves to households in Nigeria.
3.1.2 Animal waste
The process involved in the conversion of animal waste to biogas to electric energy include the following:
mixing of waste to homogenise it; digestion of waste in an anaerobic digester; separation of sludge; biogas
collection from digester; and power generation from biogas. Estimates made in 2001 gave the total number
of cattle, sheep, goats, horses and pigs as well as poultry in Nigeria as 245 million. These all together
produce 0.78 million tonnes of animal waste daily which is equal to 7.644 x 109 MJ with the calorific value
of animal dung assumed as 9,800 MJ/tonne [33].
3.1.3 Energy crops and agricultural residues
Agricultural residues are classified into crop or field residues and processing residues. While crop residues
are the materials left on the farm after harvesting the target crops, processing residues are produced
mainly after crop processing [36]. Crop residues produced in Nigeria include straw leaves and stalks of
cereal, cassava peelings and cocoa pods. On the other hand, processing residues include cocoa husk,
coconut shell and husk, rice husk, etc. The major agricultural crops grown in Nigeria are millet, yam,
cassava, sorghum, rice, groundnut, oil palm, jatropha, soyabeans, and maize. Among all, the crops that
have sustainable potential as biomass feedstock for biofuel production include sugarcane, sorghum,
cassava, rice, and maize, while oil palm, groundnut, jatropha, soyabeans, sunflower, castor oil, and sesame
are famous for biodiesel production [37]. Table 6 shows the estimated production data and biofuel type of
major Nigerian agricultural crops for the year 2004 [36].
3.1.4 Municipal Solid Wastes
Another source of biomass in Nigeria is municipal solid wastes (MSW). These are materials generated from
the daily activities of humans. Essentially, MSW contains two basic components – biodegradable and nonbiodegradable matter [37] The biodegradable fraction is usually treated by anaerobic digestion for
production of biogas, which could in turn be used for cooking or power generation depending on the scale
of production. Municipal solid wastes management in Nigeria includes both open dump in unmanaged sites
and controlled sanitary landfills. Organised sanitary landfills are limited to major urban cities such as Abuja,
Lagos, Ibadan, Akure and other State capitals. The average MSW produced per capita per day significantly
varies from place to place in Nigeria. However, 20 kg of MSW per capita has been estimated to be produced
in the country annually [39]. Going by the 2006 census figure of 160 million inhabitants, the total generated
MSW will be at least 3.2 million tonnes per year. With increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, the
annual MSW generated will continue to increase. Therefore, biogas production from these wastes will be a
profitable and viable means of reducing the menace and nuisance of urban wastes in many cities.
3.2 Hydroelectric Power
Hydroelectric power (HEP) is one of the few sources of energy that has assumed great significance since the
beginning of the twentieth century. It produced about a quarter of the world's electricity and supply more
than one billion people with power. HEP plants are continuously gaining importance as a renewable and
non-polluting source of electricity generation [41]. Statistically, it is the most common form of renewable
energy and plays a very important role in the global energy production [42] . According to the International
Energy Agency (IEA), the global generation of electricity from hydropower in 2011 was 3,402.3 TWh,
accounting for almost 17% of total global energy production. The global technical potential is estimated at
more than 16,400 TWh/year. Figure 11 shows the values of installed capacity as percentage of the total of
3,756 TWh by region in 2012, where OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development. Currently about 20% of world’s hydropower potential is used effectively [42] .
Nigeria has three main hydropower plants. These plants are located at Kainji, Jebba, and Shiroro power
stations with installed capacities of 760 MW, 560 MW and 600 MW respectively; totalling 1,900 MW [41].
These three hydropower plants contribute about 35.6% power to the National Grid [43], thus making
hydropower the country's largest renewable energy source. The fourth hydropower station, owned by a
private utility service company, the Nigerian Electricity Supply Corporation (NESCO) limited, is located at six
different sites in Plateau State but has a total potential of just 21 MW [37]. Shiroro power plant was
commissioned in 1990 with an installed capacity of 600 MW. Kainji and Jebba power stations operate as
two hydro generation plants, each being from the River Niger. Kainji began operation as Nigeria's first
hydro power plant in 1968 while the Jebba plant was commissioned in 1985 [44]. The installed capacity of
the hydropower plants in Nigeria has remained stagnant for many years while the output power produced
has continued to decline due to lack of proper maintenance leading to loss of generating units and seasonal
fluctuations in the volume of water flowing into the reservoirs [37].
Hydro-energy has the most potential for development in rural areas of Nigeria due to its abundance and
generally available well-known technology. Its projects create favourable conditions for new productive
activities related to the supply of materials and equipment which usually generates employment during
construction. Since the main obstacle to these projects is lack of finance, it is advisable to concentrate on
small hydropower stations that can complement rural electrification programmes in addition to the
advantage of water supply and irrigation systems from the dams [45]. However, there was a shift in
attention to fossil fuels due to the vast deposits in the country, at the expense of the hydropower sector.
The result was that the three existing hydro plants (Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro) were neglected to the extent
that they now perform well below installed capacity [46].
Nigeria has considerable hydro potential sources exemplified by her large rivers, small rivers and streams.
Nigerian rivers are distributed all over the country with potential sites for hydropower scheme which can
serve the urban, rural and isolated communities. An estimation of rivers Kaduna, Benue and Cross River at
Shiroro, Makurdi and Ikom indicates that a total capacity of about 4,650 MW is available, while the
estimate for the river Mambillla plateau is put at 2,330 MW. A large number of untapped hydropower
potential of about 12,190 MW has been identified in various locations across the country, as shown in
Table 8 [47] . Recently, the federal government of Nigeria signed $1.293bn contract with a Chinese
company for the development of Zungeru power plant aimed to generate about 700 MW.
The small and large hydropower potential of Nigeria stand at 3,500 MW and 11,235 MW respectively [49] .
The Federal Government put in place a framework towards exploring available potentials for SHP, thus
requiring the efforts of every sector. However, private sector participation has increased only in fossilbased sources rather than in hydropower and other renewable sources.
Small hydropower (SHP) has been in existence in Nigeria since 1923. However, SHP technology is still at its
infancy in Nigeria with the scheme operated in only three States of the country [46]. If properly deployed,
SHP can be the most affordable and accessible option to provide off-grid electricity services especially in
rural communities. Based on Nigeria’s level of hydropower development, small hydropower station is
defined to be of capacity between 2 MW`
and 10 MW, though, there
is no internationally precisely agreed range or limit, and most countries use this limit to define SHP.
For small and medium hydropower, the hydropower projects are located in nine states (Gombe, Kaduna,
Kano, Katsina, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Sokoto, and Zamfara). The total capacity of the hydropower projects is
given as150 MW [25, 50]. Although planned renewable energy accounts for about 68% and 70% of the
additional 7,125 and 8,858 MW to be added to the grid by 2020 and 2030, respectively, the majority of that
is large-scale hydropower plants aimed at addressing irrigation and water supply problems in addition to
power supply [50].
3.3 Solar Energy
Nigeria is richly endowed with solar energy with an annual average daily sunshine of 6.5 hours, ranging
from 4 hours at the coastal areas to 9 hours at the far northern boundary. Studies have shown that Nigeria
receives an
Despite the availability of solar power resources in the Nigeria, solar PV installation is limited and disperse
in country with majority in remote areas for standalone applications like solar water pump. Though solar PV
installation is said to have been on gradual increase, it was reported by Sambo in year 2010 to have
reached about 1MW [55]. More than 80% of the installations belong to government agencies for water
pumping, street lighting, vaccine refrigerators, and community lighting. Its domestic application is not yet
pronounced because people are yet to be convince that it’s viable alternative to small size generators due
to high capital cost.
Nigeria is also far behind in research on solar cell development and manufacturing. However, the National
Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) took a giant step towards having Nigerian
branded solar PV by establishing a solar assembly plant in Karshi, Abuja in the year 2011. The solar
assembly plant commenced operation in the same year, even though none of the component parts is been
manufactured in Nigeria yet. Effort like this should be supported by the government and private sector to
ensure sustainability. The researchers in the country should also embark on relevant research that will take
the country to a level of locally producing accessories components soonest with expectation of attain
production of solar cells. Local manufacturing of solar PV will drastically bring down the cost of installation
and promote availability and accessibility thereby promotes adoption of solar energy as viable alternative
source of energy in the country.
3.4 Wind Energy
Wind energy exploration in Nigeria has not been significant as most of the existing wind energy systems are
abandoned due to inappropriate evaluation of its potentials, operations and management [18]. Given the
inadequate and epileptic power supply being experienced in the country, using wind energy conversion
system to supplement the energy obtained from the serving hydropower and thermal power plants will be
a wonderful initiative. However, given the huge initial investment capital, the government could encourage
many individual users to adopt it by giving adequate incentives, such as feed-in tariff. With the current
deregulation of the power industry in Nigeria, the Council for Renewable Energy in Nigeria (CREN), whose
responsibility, among others, is to coordinate renewable energy development and implementation plan for
the country, was created by the government [64].
3.4.1 Wind Data Collection and Analysis
Lots of research works [65-73] have been carried out on assessment of wind energy potentials spread
across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. These works were studied and the wind data used in the
present study were obtained from [65-67, 69, 74, 75], most of which originated from the Nigeria
Meteorological Services (NIMETS) Oshodi, Lagos, spanning a period of 36 years. It was observed that there
is a wide disparity in the values of wind speed of certain sites as presented in different literature. However,
the disparity may be due to year difference and height of wind data collection. While some authors
standardised their data to 10 m above the sea level, some presented theirs at different heights. To this end,
the sources of the data used in this work are as indicated in Table 12 to pre-empt any unnecessary
confusion.
The entire country is divided into six geo-political zones. Generally, the northern parts of the country are
windier than the southern parts. Based on the available data from literature, the North-West has the
highest wind speeds which range from 3.88 m/s to 9.39 m/s at Yelwa and Kano respectively. This is
followed by North-East zone having Jos leading the zone with a wind speed of 9.47m/s. In the South-East of
Nigeria, we have wind speed data for only two sites: Enugu and Ogoja having 5.73 m/s and 2.80 m/s
respectively. For the South-Western part of the country, the least obtainable annual mean wind speed is
1.77 m/s at Ondo and the highest of above 4.5 m/s in cities like Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland and Shaki. In
the North-Central geo-political zone, Minna is found to have the highest with a wind speed of 5.36 m/s
while Bida has the least of 2.46 m/s. Lastly, the South-south zone records the highest wind speed of 4. 65
m/s at Calabar while Port-Harcourt has the least wind speed in the zone with a value of 3.30 m/s. Generally
speaking, with most parts of Nigeria having an average wind speed of 3.0 m/s shows that wind energy is
viable in the country.
4.0 Applications of Renewable Energy
Renewable energy in developing countries has made significant inroads for household lighting and
entertainment. Although electricity certainly provides improvements in the quality of life through these
household applications, it is the "productive uses" of electricity that can increase incomes and provide
development benefits to rural and urban dwellers. As incomes increase, rural populations are better able to
afford greater levels of energy service, which can allow even greater use of renewable energy. The major
emerging productive uses of renewable energy in the rural and urban centres include the following
4.1 Rural Electrification
Renewable Energy technologies like solar PV, wind, small hydro power can all be used in implementing
rural electrification projects. There are cases where more than one source (hybrid systems) can also be
utilized to execute such projects. These kinds of projects have been implemented in many countries of
the world and they have proven to be very efficient. They are either be used to power dc appliances
alone or utilize inverters to enable the use of ac loads. In cases like this, the entire community is
supplied from a centralized source or sources as the case may be. Sheeraz et al. (2010).
Rural electrification policies and programs using renewable energy continued to emerge and progress.
New rural electrification programs using renewable energy for off-grid or mini-grid access started in
Egypt, Palestine, and Vanuatu. A Bolivian program called "Electricity for living with dignity" targets
200,000 rural homes during 2006-10, with a goal to increase the electrified rural population from 30 to
50 percent. The Peruvian Rural Electrification Plan intends to increase the served rural population from
30 percent in 2007 to 58 percent in 2011. In Brazil, the "Luz Para Todos" ("light for everyone") program
was beginning to supply renewables to villages using vegetable oils and gasified agricultural/wood
residues for power generation. India's Remote Village Electrification Program continued to achieve
steady progress. By early 2009, a cumulative total of 4,250 villages and 1,160 hamlets had been
electrified using renewables. Rural applications of solar PV in India increased to more than 435,000
home lighting systems, 700,000 solar lanterns, and 7,000 solar-power water pumps. There were 637,000
solar cookers in use and 160 MW of small-scale biomass gasification systems for off-grid power
generation. India recently proposed to augment cooking, lighting, and motive power with renewables in
600,000 villages by 2032, starting with 10,000 remote un-electrified villages by 2012. Sheeraz et al.
(2010).
Furthermore, Solar Home Systems are decentralized systems (Stand-alone) that are used to power
smaller units of a community for example individual compounds or houses in a community.
Examples of rural electrification in Nigeria using renewable energy piloted by the Energy Commission of
Nigeria include: 7.2kWp village electrification at Danjawa Village, Sokoto State, 5.5kWp solar
photovoltaic plant at Laje, Ondo State, and 30kW Ezioha Mgbowo Small Hydro-Power station underconstruction etc. FEDERAL MINISTRY OF POWER AND STEEL FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA. (2006)
4.2 Rural Water Projects
Water is an essential basic requirement for life. Its availability however is a serious issue in our country
especially in the rural communities where many have to go long distances in search of consumable
water. Solar powered community water projects (boreholes) provide a solution to this problem of water
scarcity in rural areas.
4.3 Battery Charging
Solar modules can be used to charge batteries that the users take home to power appliances providing
different services (lighting, entertainment, etc). Photovoltaic Battery Charging Stations (PV BCS) are
small power plants run by PV modules designed to charge batteries. This will not only provide charging
points; it also has the capacity to generate employment as many people can depend on battery charging
as a means of livelihood.
4.4 Health Care Delivery
Rural health service is an important national and international priority. It is said that health is wealth;
however, the availability of electricity to support proper rural health services is less than adequate in
Nigeria. Consequently, the use of renewable energy will make it possible to enhance provision of
vaccines and other basic health care services in remote areas.
Such energy will power lighting, fans, solar refrigeration, radio and telecommunications, medical
appliances (such as microscope, centrifuge nebulizer, oxygen concentrator etc), sterilization, and water
treatment for such health centres. Jimenez and Olson (1998).
4.5 Agriculture
Agricultural activities characterize the people living in rural areas in the country and renewable energy
can be used to boost such. For example, irrigation can be made easier with the use of solar-powered
irrigation pumps which will definitely have a positive effect on productivity. Also, in food production
renewable energy can be employed for water pumping for animals, electric livestock fences, and
aeration pumps for fish and shrimp farms, egg incubators, and refrigeration for storage.
In addition, in the aspect of food processing, renewable energy is useful for meat and fish drying,
plant/seaweed drying, spice drying and cereal grain processing, coconut fibre processing, grain mills,
Furthermore, lighting
of farm settlements can be powered using renewable energy systems.
4.6 Education
Education is another sector that employs the use of renewable energy technologies. One of the ways of
improving the education of the rural dwellers is the use of Information Technology Education (Computer
Education). This will expose them to the use of computer and other related devices in information
technology. Solar PV can be used to supply the needed power by these computers and will even lead to
the establishment of cyber cafes in the rural areas.
As well, locating solar PV technology on schools is an excellent way to raise energy awareness in a
community. Schools are community gathering places, and locating a renewable energy project in such a
centralized location can improve the profile of renewable energy and conservation in general.
4.7 Cottage Industry
Renewable Energy can be applied in cottage industry in places like bakeries (oven), brick making,
carpentry (power tools), electronic repair (soldering irons), handcraft production (small electronic tools)
and sewing.
4.8 Community Services
Streetlights, town halls and other residential houses can all be powered by renewable energy source.
Either as stand-alone or mini-grid systems. Renewable energy in rural areas of developing countries has
made significant inroads for household lighting and entertainment. Broadcast media, village cinema, and
fax can all be powered with the use of renewable energy.
4.9 Domestic Uses
The use of fuel woods for cooking and other domestic purposes has a lot of negative effects both on the
environment and on the users. Renewable energy application has made it possible to replace that
means of cooking with more energy efficient stoves that utilize clean fuel from biomass.
5.0
The Way Forward on Energy Security
A robust and secure energy base requires a strategic and deliberate government policy both short and
long terms that will guarantee the present and future energy needs of the nation. The energy sector of
the economy is greatly inefficient and this has affected every other sector of the economy. Corruption
has been identified as one of the major challenges bedeviling the energy sector and this has to be
tackled if the nation is to make any head way in energy security.
•There should be in place a deliberate effort towards increasing Nigeria’s Energy independence. This can
be done by increasing Investment in New Energy Technologies (INET) and setting new fuel Economy
standards for both passengers’ cars and heavy-duty trucks.
•The high price of oil is a strong incentive to the private sector and government to make the
investments needed to develop and deploy new technologies. Investment in biomass technology will
transform the urban and rural communities of Nigeria from the depths of filth and trash to a healthy and
sanitary country i.e. turning waste to wealth. At the same time, it will generate sustainable biogas that
will be used to power gas generators for the everyday community’s energy needs. Also, the
establishment of Solar Electricity Generating Enterprises will offer opportunities to rural community to
have access to electricity. This will enhance water pumping from wells; health care delivery, exposure to
modern education technology and lighting; catalyze the development of cottage businesses; and Stem
urban migration, which in itself will help to decongest the cities.
•Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass technology should be developed so as to
create maximum benefit at the grassroots level in both the rural and urban communities of Nigeria. The
Federal Government should establish a Renewable Energy Business Incubators at several selected
research institutions in Nigeria that will develop renewable energy technology and its benefits and
create a technical culture in Nigeria. The centers will (i) stimulate renewable energy inventions and
innovations, (ii) develop academic courses on inventive design in the context of renewable energy at
technical colleges and universities, (iii) coordinate inventive and innovative ideas in sustainable energy
from other local technical colleges and universities, and (iv) solicit financial and logistic support for
inventors to develop their patentable/patented inventions for mass production and marketing.
•The creation of a joint research synergy between a foreign research institution, two or more research
institutions in Nigeria and a renewable energy development professional who will bring about the
execution and implantation of research results into practice especially on renewable energy
6.0 Conclusion
Adequate and affordable energy mix supply is essential in the 21st century, and there cannot be any
pretense about it. It is one means to achieve energy security. Energy security can only be achieved
through adequate investments that are coherent and consistent. In order to address challenges that
Nigeria is facing, and those ahead in term of energy security, adequate attention has to be paid to
diversification of the energy sector. However, corruption cases in the oil and gas sector have to be
tackled first before implementing any policy frameworks and reforms that can give a robust energy base
for the nation.
7.0 Recommendations
In order to achieve a reliable and efficient energy source in Nigeria, the following are being
recommended:
The Federal Government should take the issue of renewable energy more serious through improved
budgetary allocation to the sector and adoption of policy drafts like the Renewable Energy Master Plan
prepared by the Energy Commission of Nigeria.
The National Assembly should as a matter of urgency legislate on renewable energy by passing into law
policy drafts on the sector. They can also see to it that budgetary allocations are increased for the
sector.
Refences
Maren,I Borok Energy Security in Nigeria: international journal of engineering science invention
Retrieved from www.ijesi.org
Engr. Y M Ganda, prof B g Danshelu and engr I.H Zarma: the role of renewable energy in improving
energy access to rural areas in Nigeria. Energy commission of Nigeria retrieved from
http://www.researchgate.net/puliication.
http://:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/renewable_energy
http://intechopen.com/books/energy_policy
http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/X8054E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/energy_in_the_united states
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tables.xls
REN21 ‘Renewable 2019 Global status report’