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].