Renewable Energy in Nigeria, features & options
In the next few weeks, I, together with my friends Chike Mogo and Okpanachi Adaji , would be looking at Nigeria’s renewable energy options, features and opportunities as the government looks to have a more robust energy mix.
Nigeria, a country estimated to have a population of over 170 million people has varying temperatures and natural and physical features within its 923.78 thousand sq. km land mass. The country lies within a high sunshine belt and thus has enormous solar energy and other solar related potentials and the resources in the North of the country, in particular, provide a more viable potential for photovoltaic use, with insolation of up to 7 kWh/ m2/day.
Average sunshine hours in Nigeria, are estimated at 6hrs per day. Hence, the country does have rich potentials for renewable energy (solar power production in particular). Given Nigeria’s solar potentials, solar thermal applications, for which technologies already exist in the country, include solar cooking, solar water heating for industries, hospitals and households, solar evaporative cooling, solar crop drying, solar incubators and solar chick brooding.
It is also the case, that the Nigerian National Energy Policy (which came into effect in the April 2003) (the “Policy”) recognizes the use of renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar, wind, biomass amongst other sources of renewable energy sources. In particular, the Policy recognizes the need for the nation to harness the hydropower potential available in the country for electricity generation. It also recognizes the need for Nigeria to integrate solar energy (in particular) into the country’s energy mix.
Further, Nigeria’s Electric Power Policy, developed by a 23-member Electric Power Sector Reform Implementation Committee (EPIC) and approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria, in the year 2001 specifically states in Section 7.1 (i) that the rural electrification policy shall include a full menu of rural electrification options, such as grid and off-grid, mini-grid, non-thermal, renewables etc. NERC, pursuant to the powers granted it under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act No. 6 of 2005, licensed the first renewable power project above 1MW namely; the 5MW solar project located in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. This week is only introductory as we shall be taking this topic further in the weeks to come, highlight the issues, pros, cons and challenges.
Solar
It is the conversion of sunlight into electricity by the means of directly using photovoltaics (PVs) or indirectly using concentrated solar panels. The quantity of electricity that can be generated depends on a number of factors such as wind, temperature, speed, dust, cloud cover and spectral distribution of incident radiation, angle of incidence of solar radiation and operation efficiencies of system components.
Nigeria lies in the tropics and receives abundant supply of solar radiation, with only two seasons a year rainy and dry season, the largest energy generation potential occurs during the dry season December to May and lower levels during the rainy season due to reduced amount of sunshine. This makes the northern part of the country, an ideal location for establishing solar farms to boost rural electrification and also contribute to the national grid.
Wind
Wind power is the conversion of wind into energy using turbines to generate electricity. The factors that affect efficiency include wind power, altitude, obstruction, blade (aerodynamics) and air (temperature). Ideally most wind generators requires a wind speed of 16km/h or greater to be efficient enough to produce electricity
A hilly region is an ideal location for a wind turbine to be positioned. It should have a near constant flow of non-turbulent wind throughout the year. Factors that affect the efficiency include, wind power, altitude, obstructions, blade (aerodynamics) and air (temperature).
Wind blows faster at higher altitudes because of the reduced drag force, which makes hilly regions in the north and mountainous terrains of the middle belt wind blows faster due to higher altitude as a result of a reduced drag force. In the south wind speeds are generally weak except for coastal regions and offshore. Peak wind speed generally occurs between the months of April to August.
Micro Hydro
This is a type of hydroelectric power that uses natural flow of water to produce electricity. Water is diverted from a stream or river and channeled into a valley or drop into a turbine via a pipeline called a penstock. This turbine drives a generator that provides electricity to the local community.
Micro hydro stations are mostly suitable for rural areas or regions with very low power demand, because most schemes generate only about 100kW of power and won’t add much value to the national grid or regions with high power demand. They complement solar energy systems in many areas because water flow and thus hydro power is highest during the rainy season when solar energy is at a minimum.
The production range is calculated in terms of head and flow. The higher each of these are the more power is available. Head is the pressure measurement of falling water expressed as a function of the vertical distance the water falls, while Flow is the actual quantity of water falling from a site. A dam or storage facility for the water is not required, which makes it an economically viable source of power as against to using diesel generators. For more information on the power sector, read the text, the “Nigerian Electric Power Sector: Policy. Law. Negotiation Strategy. Business by Ayodele Oni”.
Interestingly, unlike several years ago, the Nigerian legal and regulatory regime makes provision for renewable energy.
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Ayodele Oni, a solicitor specializes in international energy (oil, gas & power) investment law and has a mini MBA in power & electricity. You can follow me on twitter @ayodelegoni.