Energy & CivilizationStudent Project Showcase: Fall 2021

Group Members

Ilja Elise Engeset, Jonas Krogh Fevang, Ida Vinningland

Problem Identification Video

Project Report

Executive Summary

his paper aims to analyze potential solutions that can be implemented in Nigeria to meet its increasing electricity demand in rural areas. Electricity in rural areas is crucial for economic development in Nigeria, which has a population of 213 million people with a growth rate of 2.6 % each year. Nigeria’s power infrastructure today is insufficient and is not utilized due to a large amount of power losses. This paper analyzes how Nigeria can overcome its electricity problems in rural areas by taking the economic, technological, socio-cultural, and political aspects into consideration.

Scaling up the electricity production in rural areas is crucial to meet the increasing electricity demand. Three methods are recommended to meet this goal: solar power, wind power and gas capturing. In addition, the paper recommends that the existing infrastructure is more efficiently utilized, and power losses are reduced, and infrastructure is expanded. These methods will help Nigeria meet its INDCs, which consist of reducing their emissions by 20 % by 2030 and improving energy efficiency.

Nigeria has a high range of solar radiation and therefore has a huge potential for solar power. Off-grid solar systems can produce electricity independent of the rest of Nigeria’s power infrastructure and are therefore beneficial for rural areas not connected to the national grid. For a long-term solution, building out large on-grid PV farms tends to be more beneficial than off-grid solutions, but requires that the power infrastructure improves and expands.

Wind power is also a solution with huge potential if the political barriers, mainly consisting of lack of political will to implement changes and corruption, are overcome. Wind data proves Nigeria has a huge wind potential in the North, where the costs per kWh are the lowest. There is already a pilot large-scale wind project in Northern Nigeria providing 10 MW of electricity annually. The project spanned over 16 years and had large delays mainly due to budgeting not being allocated to the correct measures. South Africa is utilizing wind power to a large extent today as they have established strong cooperation between the Government and the private sector, which should be encouraged in Nigeria to increase the investments in wind power.

Thirdly, capturing natural gas instead of flaring will be a part of the solution. Flaring results in large amounts of potential electrical generation or exportation of the resources being lost annually. Gas capture will have huge economic benefits, as it is predicted it will generate 445 million USD annually, by only using a third of the flared gas. Further, gas flaring can generate electricity to power 3 million people with 500 watts per hour, again by only converting a third.

Political, technological, economic, and socio-cultural barriers need to be overcome to implement the suggested solutions efficiently. Lack of political will to create a framework for improvements of the energy system combined with poor implementation power of the policies in place are the main drivers contributing to the lack of energy supply in rural areas. Introducing an efficient procurement, contracting, and implementation framework will therefore increase the possibility for power projects to succeed. In addition, a platform where the government and private sector cooperates through Public-Private Partnerships.

Final Paper: How to Meet the Increasing Electricity Demand in Rural Nigeria