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Exploring the Renewable Energy Potential of Nigeria's Blue Economy: Significance, Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract
Renewable in Nigeria shows a huge potential with numerous prospects, however, it remains widely untapped considering its abundance. This research focuses on investigating exploring the renewable energy potential of the blue economy of Nigeria with emphasis on its significance and potential, opportunities as well as challenges. A systematic literature review has been used in gathering information from previous researchers. Types of renewable energy in Nigeria are solar, wind, hydropower, Geothermal Tidal and Wave Energy, as well as Biomass Energy. Its significance is demonstrated in energy security and reliability, employment opportunities and economic growth, diversification and energy mix, environmental sustainability, as well as cost savings and accessibility. Its opportunities are indicated in the different types of renewable energy presents in Nigeria. The challenges include inadequate infrastructure, high initial investment cost, regulatory and policy gaps, technical and skills labour, accessing finance, as well as public awareness and acceptance. The findings shows that renewable energy in Nigeria is abundantly available, but can only be explored if tapped into, taking into consideration, the right tools and policy and infrastructure. The potential and opportunities of renewable energy in Nigeria cannot be undermined. However, the challenges facing renewable energy can hinder its progress.
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Endowed with abundant renewable energy resources, Nigeria stands at a pivotal point in its energy development journey. This study explores the landscape of renewable energy policy and legislation in Nigeria, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that shape the sector. The research begins with an overview of Nigeria's current energy framework, emphasizing the critical role of renewable energy in achieving sustainable development. It examines existing policies and legislative frameworks, identifying the key government agencies responsible and outlining their respective functions. Despite the country's vast potential, numerous barriers impede the growth of renewable energy. These include legal and regulatory inconsistencies, institutional inefficiencies, financial constraints, and technical challenges. The study delves into these issues, providing a comprehensive analysis of how they hinder progress in renewable energy adoption. Conversely, the research identifies significant opportunities to enhance renewable energy policy and legislation including potential legislative reforms, institutional strengthening, financial incentives, and the promotion of technological innovation and infrastructure development. By leveraging these opportunities, Nigeria can create a more robust and conducive environment for renewable energy growth. The study concludes with strategic recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders to bridge the existing gaps and foster a sustainable energy future for Nigeria. It also outlines future research directions aimed at optimizing renewable energy policies and practices. Through this comprehensive analysis, the study aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on renewable energy in Nigeria, providing insights to guide effective policy-making and legislative action.
This research paper presents an in-depth assessment of small hydropower (SHP) development in Nigeria, analyzing its challenges, opportunities, and implications for the country's energy landscape. With its vast water resources and growing energy demand, Nigeria stands poised to harness the potential of SHP as a clean and sustainable energy source. The paper explores the multifaceted dimensions of SHP development, encompassing technical feasibility, regulatory frameworks, environmental impact assessments, socioeconomic benefits, and community engagement. Through a comprehensive analysis, the study identifies barriers such as technical complexities, regulatory ambiguities, environmental concerns, financial constraints, and the imperative of community involvement.The significance of SHP in Nigeria's energy mix is underscored by its potential to enhance energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulate rural electrification. However, realizing these potential demands strategic recommendations. Strengthening the regulatory framework, embracing technological innovations, implementing environmental mitigation measures, fostering innovative financial mechanisms, and investing in capacity building emerge as key strategies. The research reveals the importance of collaboration among governmental bodies, private sector stakeholders, research institutions, local communities, and international partners. This collective effort is crucial to overcoming challenges and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by SHP development. The paper concludes by emphasizing the transformative impact that well-planned SHP projects can have on Nigeria's energy sustainability, economic growth, and environmental responsibility.
The article is devoted to the potential role of renewable energy in the grid of the future electricity generation and economic development in Nigeria. The article further observed that it is also important to examine the economics of a variety of potentially competing technologies including market demand, flexible generation, and improved operational practices of electricity in Nigeria. In addition, while there are clear benefits of using energy storage to enable greater penetration of natural resources, it is important to consider the potential role of renewable energy in relation to the needs and demands of the electricity in Nigeria. Nigeria, which gained sovereignty since October 1, 1960 did not have its own stable electricity. Hence, the article is concentrated on renewable energy as a source of sustainable electricity and economic development. The authors were interested in renewable energy due to the huge demand of electricity in Nigeria and at large, in Africa. The natural resources have no limits to human environment or space (surface). Hence, the article attempts to find solution to the problem of electricity through renewable energy. The article further emphasizes on the important use of natural resources for building modern economy and technology advancement. The article discusses the importance of renewable energy and energy demand for electricity generation as a factor of diversification of national economy. Significant place is given to the interdependence of the renewable energy with the needs of sustainable electricity generation and economic development.
Affordable and clean energy is critical to achieving the UN SDGs . Fossils accounts for the major source of energy in Nigeria. Their combustion lead to GHG emissions and climate change. The country also has a very poor energy system. Accordingly, the emphasis on transition to renewable energy. This study carried out a systematic review to identify how biomass energy recovery has progressed; and the major themes driving the field in Nigeria. The challenges facing utilization of biomass for energy production were also identified. Using relevant Boolean-operator keywords, search was conducted on SCOPUS and Google Scholar databases. Established inclusion and exclusion criteria were used in selecting suitable literature. The result shows research on biomass energy recovery has increased greatly since 2012. Climate change and environmental concerns, energy diversification, energy access, waste management, municipal solid waste, agricultural residues and policies are the themes driving biomass valorization for energy recovery in Nigeria. The challenges facing adoption of biofuels in Nigeria include poor waste management; resource considerations, lack of comparative economic and market advantages, technology and technical limitations and inconsistent policies. The MSW generated by the urban population of Nigeria is estimated to grow from 20.5 million tons (Mt) to 34.5 Mt from 2020 to 2040. More than 50% of the MSW are organics which are suitable for energy valorization. energy potential from crop residues based on annual crop production ranged from 1.28 TJ (for coconut shells) to 305 TJ for sorghum stalk. Some of the most studied thirteen crop residues are those of cassava, maize, sorghum, oil palm tree and others. Energy potential from crop residues based on crop production ranged from 1.28 TJ for coconut shells to 305 TJ for sorghum stalk. Effort should be on developing Nigeria agriculture and waste management system. The issue of fuel subsidies should also be addressed so as to create competitive business environment that will make renewable energy ventures attractive.
Availability of diverse renewable energy sources (RES) in Nigeria makes their large penetration into the electricity supply mix reasonable. The increasing energy demand, and limited fossil fuel resources (with their negative environmental impacts) support the need for energy from RES. The conventional system of centralized power generation can no longer meet up with the growing demand for electrical energy. Hence, the need for a robust decentralized energy system incorporated with computer and automated systems, for information analysis and response to network operations. Smart Grid Technology (SGT) can be used to address some of the issues and challenges inherent in the traditional grid system for efficient and reliable power supply. This work reviewed the current electricity supply status in Nigeria and the existing policies. The existing network was studied and compared with such in some countries. It identified most of the major problems and challenges in the electricity sector and proposed the integration of RES with SGT into the network. Major policy recommendations were made. Some of the barriers that may likely affect the integration of RES with SGT were also discussed. The outcomes are useful for government and renewable energy developers in formulating effective policies for the smooth integration of renewable energy with SGT into the electricity supply mix.
In Nigeria, the rapid population increase and the overreliance on fossil fuel have created significant environmental, health, political, and economic consequences leading to severe socio-economic drawbacks. These factors have developed a wide gap between energy demand and supply due to insufficient local production, necessitating a clean energy supply for all. The photovoltaic device's economic and environmental merits have made it the most suitable clean energy alternative to help developing countries such as Nigeria achieve the SDG-7. However, apart from the device's low efficiency, which is undergoing intensive study globally, other factors affect the penetration of the technology in developing countries, particularly Nigeria. This report systematically reviews the literature on the country's energy crisis and renewable energy potential, leading to an overview of solar energy potential and penetration. The potential of the technology and its penetration in the country were provided. A list highlighting challenges hindering technology penetration was also provided, and a solution for each was recommended.
Just as the need for air is inevitable in our everyday existence, energy is consumed in every sector of any nation at every second. Due to the increase in technological advancements and high population growth rate, among other factors, in the world today, there is the need for more energy than in the past centuries. Therefore, one of the best solutions to address this issue of increasing energy demand in Nigeria is harnessing the enormous small hydropower potential sites that is scattered in many parts of the nation. It is unfortunate that out of over 278 potential sites with 734.3 MW potential capacity, Nigeria has yet explored only 37.0MW. It is noteworthy that the SHP scheme has its own challenges especially in developing nations. For instance, it is reported to have high capital investment. This challenge is offset by the fact that it incurs little operation and maintenance costs. It has very high payback ratio which proves it to be a cheap source of energy. Furthermore, it is a clean and local source of energy that is reliable, affordable and predictable due to the consistency in the availability of water in rivers and its ability to be integrated with existing projects. Such multi-purpose schemes that can be integrated with the SHP schemes while guaranteeing its primary function include; irrigation network, drinking water reservoirs, wastewater treatment plants, etc. It also has the potential to create many job opportunities and also enhance women development.
In assessing the status of solar energy in Nigeria, efforts have been made to review researchers' works. This review article presents the status of solar energy in Nigeria. Also, it provides an all-inclusive contemporary analysis of the extensive research carried out in this field by Nigerians and renewable energy researchers in general. With her large population, Nigeria requires enormous energy for sustainability; this has caused somewhat an over-dependence on crude oil and natural gas for energy. This overdependence constantly puts the country in an energy consumption crisis when these resources are not readily available. It has its disadvantages as it affects climate change and her economy. Solar energy growth and application/adoption from the global, African, West African, and Nigerian perspectives were expounded with that of Nigeria buttressed on to bring into view the contrast between her adoption of this technology and the world. Albeit, the electricity generation from solar energy in Nigeria has also been estimated from solar radiation data, results of this analysis showed some areas in Northern Nigeria as the regions with the highest electricity generation capacity; the estimation using 1 kWp (Kilowatt-peak) PV (photovoltaic) modules were made from obtained data for possible electricity generation in kWh. The challenges to adopting these technologies were noted together with some recommendations/policies on how to curb these challenges and their implications. This review article will be of massive benefit to both the government and researchers in this research area and scientists who are currently working on renewable-related projects.
Background/Aim: Fossil fuel has been the mainstream of energy supply and a major source of foreign exchange earnings of the Federal Government of Nigeria, despite being an un-renewable and unsustainable source of energy which has led to emission of greenhouse gases which are unsustainable in Nigeria's power sector. There is severe challenge of power irregularity over the years such that most industrial organizations and upper income family circles install exorbitant electricity generators set due to incessant power outage in the country. Methods/Materials: The study adopts a doctrinal legal research with library based legal research method with comparative legal approach. The study reveals that lack of coherent legal framework with incentives for utilization of renewable energy is the key factor causing slow utilization of renewable energy as alternative source of energy in Nigeria. Results: The country is yet to tap into the full benefits of renewable energies after privatization of its power sector inspite of the new global evolvement in energy sector and the growing demands for renewable energy sources, which is cheaper, environmentally friendly compared to fossil fuel and its allied products. Energy security has been a challenge to social economic development due to over dependency on fossil fuel despite the obvious indicators that fossil fuel will soon become an alternative forgone in the power sector as energy has evolved from meeting household needs and industrial demands to preserving energy sources for longevity and sustainability. This would apparently have some implications for Nigeria's oil sector due to the current global dwindling in crude oil price. This development has led to the formulation of new energy policy around the world to serve as a vehicle for translating this to reality. The study evaluated resource curse and sustainable development theories due to their impacts on renewable energy in Nigeria's power sector. The aim of the study is to end the concern for poor energy utilization to promote energy efficiency and sustainability. Conclusions/Recommendations: the study recommends among other reforms, the need for coherent legal framework on renewable energy and advocates stringent enforcement of energy regulatory policies with incentives for utilization of renewable energy sources in Nigeria.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of policy incentives and cost on the choice and use of renewable energy in North-Central Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study are collected from a sample of 290 respondents drawn from across 6 states in North-Central Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory. This study uses descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings reveal that there is a huge potential demand for renewable energy sources (particularly solar photovoltaic) in the rural communities in Nigeria. It also indicates a positive and highly significant relationship between the level of awareness, availability and income and the use (consumption) of renewable energy sources among the rural communities. Furthermore, the cost of installation and maintenance of renewable energy, its reliability and availability are significant determinants of renewable energy choices among rural inhabitants in Nigeria.
Practical implications
The authors submit that inefficient policy strategies, high cost of installation and lack of awareness remain the major hindrances to the use of more efficient renewable energy sources. From a policy point of view, a viable strategy for effective use of renewable energy sources is the involvement of government, development partners and agencies for the funding of renewable energy technology in the rural sector of the country. The usage of modern renewable energy would increase if policy incentives are aimed at covering parts of the maintenance and installation cost of renewable energy users. The authors recommend that apart from creating awareness on the benefits of renewable energy, policymakers should provide a desirable policy environment for private energy firms to supply renewable energy at an affordable cost to the rural communities in Nigeria.
Social implications
A majority of the rural households in Nigeria, as shown in this article, are poor and therefore use firewood as their main source of cooking energy because of the cost of renewable energy.
Originality/value
Despite the abundance of renewable energy sources and government effort at improving renewable energy use, more than 15 million people live without access to electricity and 54 million are without modern energy services for cooking and lightening in Nigeria. A total of 61% of these people live in rural areas. Therefore, this study is novel in providing energy policy insights for rural communities in North-Central Nigeria.
Presently, there is rapid growth in Technology advancement. Developed countries are searching for new alternative energy sources to minimize the pressure on natural sources like gas, uranium, oil, coal, etc. However, natural sources of energy are inadequate and expensive, which also contributed heavily to greenhouse gas emissions. Developing countries like Nigeria are also trying to exploit different renewable energy sources like solar energy, hydropower, wind energy, bioenergy, etc. to accomplish their increasing demand and also to eradicate the energy crisis Nigeria has been experiencing due to insufficient electricity generation. This paper analyses the importance of renewable sources, the challenges and the benefits. This paper also analyses how renewable energy can be accepted as a perfect solution for economic development.
The study focuses on Nigeria geothermal energy resources and its viability. Nigeria blessed with abundant oil resources, with renewable hydropower energy, supplying energy to the neighbouring community, today is depending on importation of fuel for citizen survival, poor energy supply hence harsh economic condition, poverty on the increase and population growth geometric. This situation calls for revamping the renewable energy sector and a gradual drift from over dependence on non-renewable energy to the potential, the force multiplier to do work hence geothermal energy. This energy with a very good underground storage potential, no greenhouse effect, environmental impact advantage, improved cost advantage, economic policies, legal frameworks, with potentially reliable geothermal enthalpy resource characteristics and enormous resources of lava flows, volcanic sources, hot springs, and geysers can be made viable as recommended alleviating the state of the nation into a happy surviving nation.
For the development of rural parts in the developing countries, there is a need for energy to meet the small-scale power requirement. Villages and small living groups in these countries are found in locations far from the grid and the connection of these villages to the grid is not economical. The use of diesel fuel is costly as it is to be transported from the towns that may be far from those consumers' areas. Hence the need to invest resources in the extensive research of renewable sources of energy, such as wind. Whilst developed countries around the world have expanded their production capacity in wind energy technology (WET), developing countries still grapple with serious energy needs. The objective of this paper is to capture an updated all-inclusive perspective on wind energy potential, its current application and development in Nigeria based on studies from various sources. The development of wind energy is in its early stage and its application is almost negligible presently. This paper has identified some of the major challenges that need to be addressed for the development of wind energy in Nigeria. To promote the development and application of wind energy, government and private participations are required.
One of the most important resources of a nation is energy. The significance of energy definitely cannot be overemphasized as it is immensely utilized in our everyday activities as a very germane requirement for survival and robust lifestyle. The amount of energy availability and its usage in a country measures the level of industrialization. Several devices including machines, electronics, household electrical appliances and other domestic equipment and machines, industrial production and processing machines, streetlights for lighting, our vehicles all require energy in various form be it solar, hydroelectric , biogas, gasoline, diesel and the likes to function properly to optimum capacity. However, owing to the stupendous hike in fuel price, increase in electricity charges and the desire to limit the use of fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions, there have been several human efforts on the pursuit for alternate means of power. This study is aimed at analyzing the range of renewable energy potentials in Nigeria, and how they can ultimately be used for national development.
Electricity remains an essential commodity and is one of the most used forms of energy which can be generated from renewable and non-renewable (re)sources. Resource assessment has always constituted an initial first step in determining the potential of a resource to produce useful energy. In this work, two-dimensional aperiodic tidal series data are assessed using the continuous wavelet transform method (CWT). The data were obtained from the Hydrography Office of the Nigerian Navy (HONN) in Apapa, Lagos, for the period 2011–2015. The sites considered in this work are Apapa Lagos (latitude 6°27.0′N, longitude 3°23.0′E), Lagos Bar (latitude 6°24.0′N, longitude 3°23.9′E), and Bakana New Calabar River (latitude 4°44.0′N, longitude 6°58.0′E). The CWT method, more commonly used for periodic data, was modified and applied to the aperiodic tidal data. A fast and accurate computational MATLAB Toolbox/code [non-uniform continuous wavelet transform (NU-CWT)] was developed to characterize the data to precisely elucidate the results. Furthermore, because investors and developers require information on the economic feasibility of their investments, a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) analysis is also performed to understand the economic implications of the resource. The results indicate technically and economically significant resource potential.
Background
Renewable energy (RE) has been talked about for more than 30 years while there is an increased use of fossil fuels accompanied by subsequent negative environmental impacts and supply decline. This study explores the linkages between renewable energy and energy efficiency in ensuring an eco-friendly environment in Nigeria. Four independent variables (economic growth, fossil fuel energy consumption, renewable energy consumption, and population) were examined using time series data from 1981 to 2013 with pollution (CO2) emission as an indicator (dependent variable) for environmental degradation. The study also emanates with the view of proffering policies on how the use of renewable energy resulting in energy efficiency instead of the traditional fossil fuel can be used to sustain the environment. Methods
The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to co-integration and the vector error correction model (VECM)-Granger causality test were applied to estimate both long- and short-run parameters as well as the direction of causation. ResultsThe results from the analysis confirmed the existence of co-integration among the variables both in long- and short-run paths. The increasing negative impact of renewable energy consumption on environmental degradation validates the renewable energy-environmental quality nexus. The increased pollution emission due to fossil fuel consumption calls for a shift in the energy consumption policy from the traditional fossil fuel to renewable energy. However, an economic growth impact on environmental degradation in the long run invalidates the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for CO2 emission in Nigeria. Conclusions
The adoption of renewable and alternate energy resources will support sustainable growth with reduced adverse environmental impacts and ensure an eco-friendly environment in Nigeria.
There is an established link between the availability of reliable and adequate energy supplies and economic growth and development. Based on this link, this study assesses the potential and challenges of the renewable energy sub-sector in addressing an energy deficit that has been identified as one of the obstacles hindering economic development in Nigeria. Through an analysis of various documents, the research made two important findings: First, Nigeria recognizes and has analysed its potential in a variety of renewable energy sources for possible exploitation to diversify its energy mix. Second, although there are policies to drive the renewable energy development projects, the lack of legislative backing and various systemic challenges are hindering the deep entrenchment of this thrust. The research concludes that public and private policy coherence is critical for Nigeria to develop an economically and technically viable renewable energy sub-sector to supplement its current energy supply.
As a result of continued growth in demand for energy in Nigeria and the need to augment fossil fuel sources with renewable energy, this paper review research trends on Offshore and Onshore wind energy potentials in Nigeria, for possible power generation. Researches on development and design of small scale-wind turbine as well as their application for small-scale electrification were also discussed. This paper further examined the suitability of different geographical zones in Nigeria for offshore and onshore power generation, using results of prior researches and also stressed that Wind Energy Technology (WET) is widely underutilized in Nigeria. Several factors militating against this development were briefly highlighted and some suggestions were raised for future work within the realm of wind energy technology.
Over 80% of the current Nigerian primary energy consumption is met by petroleum. This over-dependence on fossil fuels derived from petroleum for local consumption requirements should be a serious source of concern for the country in two ways – depletion of the resources and negative impact on the environment. This paper presents a critical review of the available renewable energy resources in Nigeria, namely; biomass, hydro power, solar and wind energy. It examines the current energy situation in the country and equally discusses the various energy policy documents developed by the government. Using the scenario-based International Atomic Energy Agency models, the projected energy demand and supply structure of the country through 2030 are presented and analysed. Overall, this study shows that Nigeria will overcome her present energy crisis if she explores the abundant renewable energy resources in the country. The data presented in this paper is a crucial eye-opener for relevant government agencies towards developing these energy resources in tackling the present energy crisis in Nigeria.
The need to understand and proffer sustainable solutions to the persistent energy crises and energy starvation in Nigeria even in the face of abundant endowment of both renewable and fossil energy resources motivated this study. This study justified why solar energy should be accorded the highest priority as energy source in not only Nigeria but globally. A detailed review of the past, current and future status of solar integration in Nigeria is presented; it is seen that for grid-connected solar power integration the past status is nil, the current status is nil and future status may not be completely bleak as a number of Memoranda of Understanding have been signed. The existing supportive solar energy policies are highlighted and discussed; the chasm between the commendable Nigeria policy landscape and near-to-zero status of solar integration is blamed on poor implementation of the existing provisions by the Government. Recommendations were made on the basis of the existing policies and proposed policies. Additional provisions to some of existing laws of the Federation to accommodate support for solar energy integration are suggested. It is recommended that the poor and incipient status of solar integration in the vastly populated Nigeria should be viewed in a positive light by potential foreign investors as such status is a guarantee that solar power and thermal industry is a firsthand investment opportunity.
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