RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND ENERGY EFFICICIENCY MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA]

NIGERIA ALTERNATIVE ENERGY EXPO [NAEE 2012]
SEPTEMBER 17-19, 2012.
Yar’Adua Convention Centre, ABUJA-NIGERIA.

RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND ENERGY
EFFICICIENCY MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

OYEWOLE OLAWOLE, COLIN SEWARD

Abstract
This paper addresses access to energy as a fundamental for socio-economic development and for
poverty alleviation. We considered the huge development challenge in Nigeria is reaching out to
the 60-70% of the Nigerian population that does not have access to electricity and modern energy
services. Renewable energy technology is a promising solution to the energy crisis in Nigeria.
Renewable energy, apart from being sustainable and inexhaustible, they can be set up in small
units and is therefore suitable for community management and ownership.
The Paper therefore ammonize renewable energy with energy efficiency to achieve sustainability
in the development of renewable energy technology, which is expected to be promoted along side
with energy efficiency.
Nigeria has high potential to harness energy from renewable sources. To achieve sustainability in
the development of renewable energy, it should be promoted along side with energy efficiency.
Renewable energy and energy efficiency are two components that must be integrated into the
energy policy of Nigeria for sustainable energy development. The advantages of renewable
energy are as follows: their rate of use does not affect their availability in future, thus they are
inexhaustible; the resources are generally well distributed all over the world, even though wide
spatial and temporal variations occur. They are clean and pollution-free and therefore are
sustainable natural form of energy; they can be cheaply and continuously harvested and therefore
sustainable source of energy.
This paper also shows Renewable energy sources can meet many times the present Nigeria
energy demand, so their potential is enormous. They can enhance diversity in energy supply
markets, secure long-term sustainable energy supplies, and reduce local and global atmospheric
emissions. They can also provide commercially attractive options to meet specific needs for
energy services (particularly in developing countries and rural areas), create new employment
opportunities, and offer possibilities for local manufacturing of equipment. There are many
renewable technologies. Although often commercially available, most are still at an early stage of
development and not technically mature. They demand continuing research, development, and
demonstration efforts. In addition, few renewable energy technologies can compete with
conventional fuels on cost, except in some niche markets. But substantial cost reductions can be

achieved for most renewables, closing gaps and making them more competitive. That will require
further technology development and market deployment and boosting production capacities
to mass production. All these have been carefully analyze in this paper with emphasis on the
peculiarity of the present energy challenge in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

Renewable energy sources have been important for humans since the beginning of civilization.
For centuries and in many ways, biomass has been used for heating, cooking, steam raising, and
power generation and hydropower and wind energy, for movement and later for electricity
production. Renewable energy sources generally depend on energy flows through the Earth’s
ecosystem from the isolation of the sun and the geothermal energy of the Earth. Furthermore,
many renewables technologies are suited to small off-grid applications, good for rural, remote
areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. At the same time, such small energy
Systems can contribute to the local economy and create local jobs. The natural energy flows
through the Earth’s ecosystem are immense, and the theoretical potential of what they can
produce for human needs exceeds current energy consumption by many times. For example, solar
power plants on 1 percent of the world’s desert area would generate the world’s entire electricity
demand today.
Energy is central to all human activities and it is needed to support development. Access to
energy is inevitable for poverty alleviation and if we must achieve developmental targets and
meet the millennium development goals (MDGs). There are apparently links between poverty and
access to energy; the citizens of many poor nations of the world have extremely low access to
energy and the richer countries consume far more energy than the poor countries, suggesting that
access to energy is the dividing line between the rich and the poor countries of the world.
Apparently access to energy is directly proportional to good living standard. Yet about 2 billion
people globally live without access to modern energy services1 and they are concentrated mainly
in rural and peri-urban areas in developing countries in Africa and Asia. The energy-deprived
people are the world’s most impoverished, living on less than $2 per day1 with majority living in
sub-Sahara Africa. The African continent accounts for 3% of world energy consumption, the
lowest per capita modern energy consumption in the world. In terms of biomass energy
consumption, the African continent has the highest share in the world; 59% of total energy
consumed is biomass2. There is considerable variation in energy consumption among the different
regions and countries in Africa (Table 1). Sub-Sahara Africa continues to rely heavily on biomass
and traditional energy sources. This over reliance on traditional energy sources leads to low level
of energy efficiency, deforestation and biodiversity loss, greater health hazard due to indoor air
pollution and reduced capacity to mitigate climate change. Africa’s electricity consumption
remains low; majority of the population have no access to electricity. In the year 2000, only
22.6% of the population in sub-Sahara Africa had access to electricity, compared with Asia –
40.8%, Latin America – 86.6% and Middle East – 91.1%3. Africa’s energy profile show low
production and huge untapped potential.

Table 1: Energy Consumption by type in % in 2001

Region/country Biomass Petroleum Electricity Gas Coal
Products
North Africa 4 .1 6 1 .5 1 5 .1 1 8 .0 1 .3
Sub-Sahara 8 1 .2 1 4 .5 2 .9 1 .0 0 .5
Africa
South Africa 1 6 .5 2 9 .3 2 5 .9 1 .6 2 6 .8

Nigeria is the most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly one quarter of Sub-Saharan
Africa’s population and is one of the poorest countries in the world despite the huge resource
from crude oil export. The country is facing formidable economic, social and human development
challenges. The incidence of poverty increased from 28.1% in 1980 to 65.5% in 1996. More
current studies revealed that about 70% of the population lives below $1 per day while about 91%
of the population lives below $2 per day4. At present, the nominal electricity generating capacity
in Nigeria is less than 6000MW. The actual capacity is about half of the installed capacity.
Energy demand is dominated by fuelwood; household consume about 95% of fuelwood

Table 2: Nigeria’s Development Profile (2005)
Population 133 million
GDP (2002) $45 billion
GDP (1980) $93 billion
GDP per capital (2002) $290
GDP per capital (1980) $890
Life expectancy at birth 47 years
Under 5 mortality per 1000 births 153
Under 5 malnutrition 36%
Adult illiteracy rate 36%
Population below $1 70%
Population below $2 91%

Source: ECN and UNDP

In Nigeria, with a rural population of over 60%, centralized energy system exists. The country has
been solely dependent on the exploitation of oil to meet it development expenditure; in 2001, oil
revenue alone accounted for 98.7% of total export contributing only 10.6% to GDP. Irrespective
of Nigeria’s position as the sixth largest petroleum oil exporter and a leading gas exporter, the
nation suffers enormous energy crisis manifesting in various forms: about 60 -70 % of the
nation’s population are excluded from the national electricity grid5. Moreover, the grid is plagued
by rather frequent power outages that last for several hours daily in places that are connected to
the grid. Still, the grid electrical energy is generated from unsustainable sources (large hydro
power stations and a growing number of thermal gas stations). Over 60% of the country’s
population depends on fuelwood for cooking and other domestic uses. The consumption of
fuelwood is worsened by the use of inefficient cookstoves, which have very low thermal
efficiency and produce smoke hazardous to human health. Increasing fuelwood consumption
Contributes to deforestation leading to desertification and soil erosion. Women and children are
most affected making them vulnerable to respiratory disorders and other adverse health
conditions. Worldwide, 1.6 million people die each year due to the health and respiratory effects
from indoor air pollution. When fuels become scarcer, female children over male children are
withdrawn from school to support family energy needs. Illiterate women have more children,

larger and poorer families and this reinforces the cycle of poverty and under development. The
provision of accessible energy options will therefore save them time and hard labour. Time
previously used for wood collection and related chores can then be applied in other productive
activities such as adult literacy and skills training.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

We cannot talk about renewable energy without energy efficiency. Let me illustrate the
relationship between them with an equation as shown below:

Renewable Energy + Energy Efficiency = Sustainable Development

The relationship can be compared to a biological relation where it takes a man and a woman to
Produce children. To achieve sustainability in the development of renewable energy, it should go
Along side with energy efficiency. Renewable energies include wind, ocean wave and tides,
solar, biomass, rivers, geothermal (heat of the earth), etc. They are ‘renewable’ because they are
regularly replenished by natural processes and are therefore in endless supply. They also can
operate without polluting the environment. Technologies have been developed to harness these
energies and such technologies are called renewable energy technologies (RETs) or sometime
also called “clean technologies” or “green energy”. Because renewable energy are constantly
being replenished from natural sources, they have security of supply, unlike fossil fuels, which
are negotiated on the international market and subject to international competition, sometimes
may even resulting in wars and shortages. They have important advantages which could be stated
as follows:
• Their rate of use does not affect their availability in future, thus they are inexhaustible.
• The resources are generally well distributed all over the world, even though wide spatial and
Temporal variations occur. Thus all regions of the world have reasonable access to one or
More forms of renewable energy supply.
• They are clean and pollution-free, and therefore are sustainable natural form of energy.
• They can be cheaply and continuously harvested and therefore sustainable source of
Energy.
Unlike the nuclear and fossil fuels plants, which belong to big companies, governments, or state
owned enterprises, renewable energy can be set up in small units and is therefore suitable for
community management and ownership. In this way, value from renewable energy projects can
be kept in the community. In Nigeria, this has particular relevance since the electricity grid does
not extend to many rural areas and it is prohibitively expensive to extend the grid to remote areas.
This presents a unique opportunity to construct power plants closer to where they are actually
needed. In this way, much needed income, skill transfer and manufacturing opportunities for
small businesses would be injected into rural communities.
Transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will not result in net job losses or cause harm to
the economy. Renewable energy technologies (RETs) are labour intensive, and can produce more
jobs than fossil fuel or nuclear industries. When RETs are properly integrated into national
development plans and implemented, they can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emission and
simultaneously increase employment. Moreover, it will also enhance energy security by reducing
reliance on oil, preserve the competitiveness of energy, lead to savings for consumers and provide
transitional assistance to workers in negatively affected industries and communities. With the
right approach, the interests of working families and the environment can come together.

What is Energy Efficiency?

Energy efficiency means improvement in practices and products that reduce the energy necessary
to provide services like lighting, cooling, heating, manufacturing, cooking, transport,
entertainment etc. Energy efficiency products essentially help to do more work with less energy.
Thus, the efficiency of an appliance or technology is determined by the amount of energy needed
to provide the energy service. For instance, to light a room with an incandescent light bulb of 60
W for one hour requires 60 W/h (that is 60 watts per hour). A compact fluorescent light bulb
would provide the same or better lighting at 11 W and only use 11 W/h. This means that 49 W
(82% of energy) is saved for each hour the light is turned on. An old refrigerator would use
around 250-300 kWh per year whereas the new model would use around 100 kWh per year.
In Nigeria today, a lot of energy is wasted because industries, power companies, offices and
households use more energy than is actually necessary to fulfill their needs. The reason is because
they use old and inefficient equipment and production processes; buildings are poorly designed;
and because of bad practices or habits. With energy efficiency practices and products, the nation
can save over 50% of the present energy consumed in the country. The energy presently
generated in our country could be sufficient for the entire Nigerian population. Using energy
more efficiently would:
• Reduce electricity bills
• Leave more energy available to extend energy supply to all parts of the population
• Increase the efficiency and resilience of the economy – including reduced reliance on oil and
thus improve balance of payments
• Improve industries’ competitiveness internationally
• Minimize the building of new power stations and thus free up capital for other
Investments like health and welfare
• Reduce the negative environmental and human health impacts from energy
Production and use
• Increase employment through interventions e.g. in industry, housing, transport.
End-use Efficiency: End-use efficiency refers to technologies, appliances or practices that
improve energy efficiency at the level of the final user. It includes electricity-using and thermal
technologies such as motors, lighting, heating, air conditioning. It also includes technologies that
help to conserve or better use energy such as insulation. End-use efficiency covers measure from
improving the ability of houses to absorb and retain heat in winter and keep out heat in the
summer to changing individual and business behavior to include maintenance and repair of
industrial production equipment. Demand-side Management: refers to practices or policies
usually implemented by utilities and energy planners that encourage users to use energy more
efficiently or to move their energy use away from peak demands. The later is known as load
shifting. Load shifting allows for more effective use of generating capacity and can significantly
defer the need for building new generating stations.

Energy Management
Good energy management can contribute to energy efficiency and it includes:
• Ensuring that spare heat are not vented away but put into use
• Lighting is activated when required
• Carrying out energy audits i.e. measuring and analyzing the amount of energy used by a
Building or company to ensure that all aspects of energy management are optimized.

Dispersed Generation
In Nigeria and in some parts of the world, energy is generated from a central location and
distribute through long distances to other parts of the country. Energy is lost when transmitted
through long distances. Energy losses due to grid transmission over long distances could be

minimized if energy generation is dispersed. That is energy is generated locally and fed directly
into distribution systems.

Energy Conservation
This refers to reducing the need for energy particular electricity to achieve greater overall
efficiency. For example the use of solar water heater, which helps to capture thermal energy of
the sun in panels and connected to a well, insulated storage thanks. With the solar heater, the use
of electricity to heat water will be minimized. Another example of energy conservation practices
is the locating work places closer to public transport or closer to living areas.

Energy Efficiency in Transportation
An efficient and well organized public transport would help to conserve the use of energy in the
Transport sector. It will cut down the number of cars on the road thereby reducing congestion and
travel time. If buses were on time, regular and comfortable, more people would use them.

Passive Designs in Energy Efficiency Houses
Passive designs in buildings means making use of nature to reduce energy consumption and other
Cost. This involves the correct orientation of buildings and roof design in other to use natural
light during the day. It also involves the use of overhangs to keep out light during period of high
sunlight intensity. Energy efficiency designs have other possibilities such designs that will
enhance natural air flow, use of materials that will minimize heat flow etc.

Use of Incentives
Tariff structures can be used to encourage people to use less electricity and defer the use of
appliances to periods when it is in least demand. Varying the rate of charge according to time of
day encourage load-shifting for example the use of timers to activate appliances prior to peak
demand. Change in behavior can also help to conserve energy e.g. reducing the temperature in the
washing machine will reduce energy consumption or use of modern appliances. Energy efficiency
habit include turning off appliances when they are not in use.

Industrial Energy Use
Heavy industry is usually responsible for most energy consumption in many countries with
consumption typically ten times higher than consumption in other areas. With energy efficiency
improvement in production processes could reduce energy consumption. Improvement in
efficiency at the point of electricity generation is possible with recent developments in plant
conception and design.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency as Climate Change Mitigation Measures

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body set up in 1988 by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to
provide authoritative information about climate change phenomenon, asserts that the warming of
the last 100 years was unusual and unlikely to be natural in origin. IPCC has attributed the
warming of at least the second half of the century to an increase in the emission of greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere. Human activity is largely responsible for the emission of these gases
into the atmosphere: CO2 is produced by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) as well as
land-use activities such as deforestation; methane is produced by cattle, rice agriculture, fossil
fuel use and landfills; and nitrous oxide is produced by the chemical industry, cattle feed lots and
agricultural soils. As humans have increased their levels of production and consumption,

Greenhouse gas emissions have also increased; since 1750, at the time of the Industrial
Revolution, CO2 emission has increased by 31 %, methane by 151 % and nitrous oxide
By 17%. Moreover, the emissions of these gases continue to rise steadily9. Nigeria is one of the
highest emitter of green house gases in Africa. The practice of flaring gas by the oil companies
operating in Nigeria has been a major means through which GHGs are released into the
atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions in this area are among the highest in the world10. Some
45.8 billion kilowatts of heat are discharged into the atmosphere of the Niger Delta from flaring
1.8 billion cubic feet of gas every day10. Gas flaring has raised temperatures and rendered large
areas uninhabitable. Between 1970 and 1986, a total of about 125.5 million cubic meters of gas
was produced in the Niger Delta region, about 102.3 (81.7%) million cubic meters were flared
while only 2.6 million cubic meters were used as fuel by oil producing companies and about 14.6
million cubic meters were sold to other consumers. The use of renewable energy sources will
reduce over dependency on the burning of fossil fuel. Moreover, instead of flaring gas in Nigeria,
the gases can be converted to methanol and used as fuel for both domestic and industrial use.
With good energy efficiency practices and products, the burning of fossil fuel for energy will be
greatly minimized.

Renewable Energy Potential in Nigeria

Nigeria has high potential to harness energy from renewable sources. The country falls within the
tropics of Cancer and Capricorn where the abundance of sunlight is inevitable. This energy whose
reservoir is the sun is one of the energy resources whose availability is infinite if it is developed.
Furthermore, unlike the conventional energy resources, solar energy development is not as capital
Intensive. Therefore, it is fundamental to proffer the strategy of diversifying energy resource
development outside the conventional energy resource. This means that, the proceeds of the sale
of the conventional energy resources which are in high demand should directly be channeled
towards the development of other non-conventional, less capital intensive and non-hazardous
energy resources in Nigeria. With the abundance supply of solar energy in Nigeria, efforts need to
be geared towards research and development of solar electricity conversion by both direct and
indirect methods.
Wind energy is a secondary form of solar energy. Experts reported that approximately 2.5% of
solar energy captured by the atmosphere is being converted into wind. The development of wind
power plants is being undertaken by many countries for the generation of electricity in their quest
to exploit renewable energy sources and Nigeria should not be left out. With wind energy
available at an annual average speed of 2.0 m/s near the coast to 4.0 m/s at the northern borders,
the country possess enormous potential to develop and utilize energy from the wind for electricity
generation. The coastal regions of the south and the northern part of the country are possible
suitable sites for wind energy exploitation. There is need to embark on research to determine
actual values for wind energy potential. The potential for bioenergy development is high. Nigeria
has all the vegetational regions of West Africa except that of the desert. Agriculture is the
dominant economic activity, which contributes 41% of Nigeria’s GDP and employs the highest
labour in Nigeria. Roughly 75 percent (74 million hectares) of Nigeria’s total land (98 million
hectares) is arable and about 40 percent of this is cultivated, leaving the remaining 60% of arable
land idle. If Nigeria’s farmland is cultivable, it would have medium for good productivity if
properly managed. Policy, institutional and technological approach is inevitable to harness
bioenergy potential in Nigeria.

What are our challenges?
1. Lack of policies
2. Lack of awareness creation
3. Lack of trained personnel in the relevant governmental agencies
4. Attitudinal change of policy makers and end users of energy
5. Lack of energy efficiency agency

Conclusion and Recommendation

It is obvious that there is need for Nigeria to explore alternative source of energy especially to
reach out to the people that do not have access to electricity and other modern energy services. It
is also established that renewable energy and energy efficiency are two components that should
go together to achieve sustainable development. The need to conserve the present energy
generated in the country using energy efficiency products and practices is essential for sustainable
development. It is recommended therefore that the country should:
• Develop policies on energy efficiency and integrate them into current energy policies
• Promote energy efficiency products and practices at the side of end users and energy
Generation
• Create awareness on renewable energy and energy efficiency
• Establish agency to promote the use of energy efficiency products and ensure energy efficiency
Practices
• Develop and imbibe energy efficiency technologies
• Develop appropriate drivers for the implementation of energy efficiency policy

References

1. Timothy E. Wirth (2005). Forward to : Rethinking the Energy Paradigm: Global Opportunities
for Trade, Development and Sustainability. The proceedings of the public symposium of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) held on 21st April, 2005 in Geneva.

2. Mersie Ejigu (2005). An African Perspective. In: Rethinking the Energy Paradigm: Global
Opportunities for Trade, Development and Sustainability. The proceedings of the public
Symposium of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held on 21st April, 2005 in Geneva.

3. Karkezi, Stephen, Jennifer Wangeci and Ezekiel Manyara (2004). Sustainable Energy
Consumption in Africa. UNDESA Report, 14th May 2004

4. Federal Republic of Nigeria Renewable Energy Master Plan. Published by the ECN and
UNDP.

5. Richard Ingwe (2004). Renewable Energy Research and Development: A Case Study of
Obudu Ranch Plateau in Cross River State, Nigeria. Paper presented during the Conference
Energetic Solutions: An International Conference on Making Renewable Energy a Reality which
held in Calabar, Abuja and the Niger Delta in Nigeria from November 21 to 27, 2004.

6. Energy Commission of Nigeria (2003). National Energy Policy of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.

7. Community development and research center [CREDC]. Promoting renewable energy and
energy efficiency in Nigeria. 21st November 2007

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