Power outage hardship persists, Nigeria overlooks wind, solar energy’s safety net

The constant worry of a young entrepreneur and makeup artist based in the oil-rich Delta State, Michelle Akpevweoghene, was how much of her daily gains she had to spend on petrol to power the generator her shop mostly depended on for electricity.

When she sat at the close of business activities to take stock of her daily activities, she sighed at the amount she had to pay to access power.

This situation has eaten deep into her profit margin but she stated that the irregular electricity supply left her with no choice but to keep on buying the petrol.

She told our correspondent, “I can’t apply makeup on my client’s faces when the place is hot. I need my studio light and a fan to function. But we don’t have a regular power supply, so I have to turn on my generator as an alternative source of power so that I can do my job.

“I spend almost N3,000 every day to buy fuel because I have to turn it on throughout the day.”

For Akpevweoghene and some other small and medium entrepreneurs, using petrol-powered generators was the alternative way they accessed electricity when that from the national grid was not supplied.

Unlike her, some other Nigerians, in their frustration over the issue and the amount of money spent, have transitioned to using a cleaner source of energy.

Several trips to the generator house stationed outside the apartment of an automobile enthusiast and sales professional, Babatunde Lawal, occasioned by the irregular power supply was a bitter pill that led him to seek solace in solar-powered inverters.

An end to the noise and fumes from the generators was another thing the sales professional stated that he was grateful for.

Although the initial cost, Lawal stated, was “huge,” the “great and comforting relief” got from the purchase was worthwhile.

The automobile enthusiast, who noted that he was climate literate, described his decision to invest in solar-powered inverter as a “good choice.”

Lawal said, “It was a huge cost to procure initially but over time, I found that it was cheaper than the cost of operating a generating set. I got my inverter seven years ago and it (the price) wasn’t as bad as it is now.”

With the over 177 per cent increase in the pump price of fuel, citizens like Lawal stated that they were grateful they transitioned to solar inverters.

He added, “As a matter of fact, I am considering a solar-powered car soon. With the help of my standby inverter, I have had to spend significantly less on fuel and it has reduced the cost of maintenance of my generator set. There are occasions when weeks will go by without having to power on my generator. Also, emissions and fumes from the generator have nearly become a thing of the past, not to mention the noise pollution from the generator.”

The automobile enthusiast noted that the high cost of purchasing and installing renewable energy systems could be “cushioned with the availability of low-interest rates loans. The truth is many households require this and funding is a challenge in many cases. So I believe the introduction of loans and grants from the Federal Government and employers will help in that regard.”

What renewable energy is

The United Nations referred to renewable energy as the energy derived from natural sources which was replenished at a rate higher than what had been consumed. Some of these sources are sunlight, wind and water.

A paper presentation on Sustainable Energy for National Climate Change, Food Security and Employment Opportunities: Implications for Nigeria by Oluseyi Ajayi et al, published in Fuel Communications found that Nigeria could sustain economic growth in the agriculture and food security sector when renewable energy for power generation was included in the rural development plan.

However, several attempts to complete and commission the 10MW wind farm in the Lambar Rimi area of Katsina State have not yielded results.

The project was started by a former governor of the state and President, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in 2005.

According to Daily Trust, the project was taken over by the Federal Government in 2007 and after several failed promises for commission, another date for commissioning of the project was issued in 2021, but it never happened.

Eighteen years later, it is unclear whether the wind farm had been commissioned and currently generating energy in Nigeria despite yearly budgetary allocation to the project.

The ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency further confirmed that the investment promotion project was “ongoing.”

Why renewable energy?

The Energy Commission of Nigeria and the International Renewable Energy Agency in a January 2023 report analysed the additional potential renewable energy deployment would bring, up to 2050.

The report noted, “Renewable energy can help Nigeria meet its energy needs but also power sustainable economic growth and create jobs while achieving global climate and sustainable development objectives.”

A new report by the IREA noted that in 2022, there was a global increase in employment in the sustainable energy sector. It added that employment in the sector increased by one million between 2021 and 2022.

“Solar photovoltaics was once again the largest employer in 2022, the Annual Review found, reaching 4.9 million jobs, more than a third of the total workforce in the renewable energy sector. Hydropower and biofuels had similar numbers of jobs as in 2021, around 2.5 million each, followed by wind power with 1.4 million jobs,” it noted.

Nigeria’s environment and air quality can further benefit from generating energy from non-greenhouse gas emitters as is the case in fossil fuels as well as diversifying energy supply and reducing dependence on imported fuels.

Undoubtedly, Nigeria is a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate and, as a result, is committed to reducing greenhouse emissions.

Renewable only generated 3.3%

The Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric, Folake Soetan, at the recently held Renewable Energy Roundtable conference themed ‘Renewable Energies: Innovation, Transition, Opportunities and Challenges’ admitted that Nigeria’s total power generated from renewable energy was just 3.3 per cent.

She added that this called for massive investments in the renewable sector.

Also speaking at the conference, the President and Chairman of the Council of the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce, Ray Relly, said Nigeria’s transition to renewable energy was “no longer a choice but a must.”

He added that Nigeria must ensure a seamless transition through the use of new technologies and implementation of enacted policies.

According to a power data and news company, Power Technology, of the total global hydro capacity of 1,367 gigawatts, only 0.15 per cent is in Nigeria.

According to Statista, as of 2022, the solar energy capacity in Nigeria amounted to around 37 megawatts. This represented a 12 per cent increase compared to 2021.

Ongoing hydro projects

The yet-to-be-completed 51-year-old conceived Mambilla hydropower project in Taraba State, owned by the Ministry of Power and expected to begin commercial operation in 2027, was initially supposed to produce 3,050MW but was reduced to 1,050MW by the Federal Government to “guarantee return on investment.”

FG in 2017 re-awarded and approved the construction of the project to a Chinese company. The project was at the time commissioned to boost the nation’s energy supply and create jobs.

The 1,650MW Markudi hydropower plant is expected to address the energy shortfall in the country and the flooding situation.

The Kainji is said to be a 980MW producing hydroelectric power plant while the 700MW Zungeru hydro power project is reportedly partially active.

The 750MW Lokoja hydropower project is expected to be commissioned in 2033.

Findings by The PUNCH showed that nine out of the 26 power plants connected to the national grid were responsible for producing 71 per cent of electricity.

Egbin, Kainji, Azura-Edo IPP, Jebba, Delta, Shiroro, Odukpani, Afam VI and Geregu are the plants generating the power with a minimum share of 5.76 per cent each.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission projected an increase in electricity generation capacity to 25,000MW in 2025 and expected it to peak at 32,000MW.

Long erratic power

Nigeria currently generates less than 5,000MW of electricity from the national grid. As a result of this low power supply which is occasioned by erratic power supply, Nigeria loses about N7bn to N10bn, accounting for 5-7 per cent of the country’s GDP, annually.

On June 9, the World Bank Group approved a loan of $750m to boost Nigeria’s power sector. The PUNCH reported that the loan was additional financing for the Power Sector Recovery Performance-Based Operation which had initially been approved on June 23, 2020, and the parent project was expected to end on June 30, 2023.

Aside from the power outages, the constant collapse of the national grid further throws the nation into further darkness. In September, the grid collapsed twice. From 2015 to 2022, the national grid collapsed 98 times and the available power generation capacity fell by 981.8MW despite the over N11.51tn intervention in the sector.

The International Hydropower Association, in 2018, stated that only 2,062MW of energy from the national grid was sourced from hydropower but it has an estimated 1,800m3 per capita per year of renewable water resources available.

Need for clean energy

The lack of constant electricity made a serviceman, Daniel Edet, switch to using renewable energy sources of electricity.

Although Edet noted that the initial cost was high, the consequent benefits were “equitable” to his needs.

 “The experience has been very good and the cost implication is equitable,” he said.

Edet believed that the future of energy supply was renewables, further noting that due to the cost “many Nigerians might not find it easy to blend with.”

For a solar tech enthusiast, Babajide Osinuga, the birth of his twins birthed his adoption and transition to renewable energy source.

He added that his decision was made to escape the cost of buying fuel to power his generators.

“The experience has been splendid, there is always light in our home even when there is a power outage in the area. The initial cost was high but when spread over the years, one would discover that in the long run, one would be better off for it. Imagine having to replace only the batteries every four years which is bought at a one-off cost compared to the cost of buying fuel every day, one would see that one is cutting costs compared to buying fuel every day. If you calculate, you know how much you will lose,” Osinuga enthused.

He, however, noted that to lessen the burden of offsetting the bills at once, he bought the panels and inverters first and after some time bought the batteries.

“As a user of renewable energy, you are taking your carbon footprint off the environment,” he further noted.

Like Edet, Osinuga stated that his transition to renewable was not a result of his knowledge of climate change but also noted that renewable energy was the future of energy supply.

He further noted, “If renewable is invested in, it is a win-win situation because it cuts down carbon emission and is a solution to the epileptic power supply.”

For his part, a product manager and renewable energy systems expert, Stephen AgbeleDiran, noted that the responses of the government towards the electricity supply in the country showed no readiness for the adoption of clean energy.

He added that the current hike in electricity tariff and the fuel subsidy removal had made Nigerians seek sustainable means of energy supply, though expensive at the outset.

“I wish our government could think outside the box and embrace sustainable energy but when I look at the announcement and the reactions it gained, it is not driving towards renewable energy. If funds can be readily made available to people, I believe a lot more people would transition to renewable energy for electricity supply,” AgbeleDiran said.

No deliberate policy towards transition – Experts

A professor of Electrical Power Systems Reliability and Renewable Energy at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Anthony Adoghe, noted that the transition to renewable or an alternative source of energy was ineffective due to the lack of deliberate government policy, technology and access to foreign and private finances.

He noted that deliberate policies towards the implementation and achievement of the energy goals, inadequate infrastructure and grid, unstable financial situations, and limited access to private and foreign finances were the several barriers that needed to be removed for a successful transition into clean energy.

The professor said, “To increase the pace of transition towards the adoption of clean energy, several barriers need to be removed, including transmission and financial limitation, market and legislative regulation and constraint on natural resources.

“One of the challenges with transitioning into renewable energy is that it requires building, developing and deploying new infrastructure and technology and products to renewable sources. And they are costly investments so a global effort to fund 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 could cause $131tn in energy transition investment according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. There is a lot of cost involved although initially, the installation cost for renewable is very high, as a result of research and technology, the cost of the components are becoming less expensive.”

Adoghe added, “Some of the barriers that we can say that are pointers to a slow pace of transition of renewable would be inadequate solar initiatives research because while some other countries committed some votes to research and development, there is no such policy in Nigeria that this amount of money every year is dedicated to research and development.”

Although he noted that the NERC had recently allowed states to generate and utilise renewable energies, “for us to make use of the already existing transmission lines by the distribution companies becomes a problem. They would not allow another company that is generating energy from a wind farm or other renewable through their transmission lines.”

The don decried the influx of substandard solar panels into the country due to the lack of standardisation checks and the insecurity situation, adding that these contributed to a slow pace of the transition to clean energy.

Adoghe called for the adoption of deliberate policies and plans towards the generation and transmission of clean energy, regulation to admit the usage of existing transmission lines, policy enforcement and effective power sector planning.

“For us to make headway in this renewable business, there must be smart meters in every home to determine the amount of energy consumed in every home and so that people can pay for the electricity generation they are consuming,” the professor noted.

A Professor of Applied and Renewable Energy at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna, Fatai Anafi, stated that the initial capital needed was the scarecrow that prevented the massive investment in renewable energy.

He further noted that although there were several hydro-generating energy sources in several places, they were not generating much electricity.

Anafi emphasised that the current energy transmission sector needed to be revived to ensure constant electricity supply and a rebound of manufacturing industries.

The professor noted, “We cannot invest so much in it (renewable energy) now. We have to go for the low-hanging fruit in terms of what we can provide to ensure that our industry and employment rate can rebound. Renewable energies can’t be used to power the big industries. It is good and can be used to power homes and offices and can be used to generate some megawatts but needs a lot of investment.

“In the last 30 years, I doubt if a serious dam has been built, yet we are supposed to, on a two to five-year basis, build big dams to harness the much waters during the rainy season. Today, we would have built many big dams that would be multipurpose; to generate electricity and for irrigation.”

Dependence on crude hindering transition

On his part, the Executive Director of Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development, Leslie Adogame, stated that renewable energy was a resource that had been discovered, used and adopted by countries around the world.

He further noted that the country, compared to what was obtainable in other developing countries, was paying lip service to the deployment of renewable energy despite the suffering of energy poverty.

“For a country like Nigeria that has energy poverty, which means that for a country that has aligned to the basics of the sustainable development goals, we do not have sufficient energy supply.

“Renewable energy otherwise called the non-conventional sources of energy is the best way to go to achieve sustainable development agenda, because of its renewability and the advantages inherent to both the environment and economy.

“So, for a country that has energy deficiency, we cannot even meet our energy demand, then what we expect is that alternative source of energy should be massively deployed into key sectors. For example, there should be energy policies that would ensure that new estates factor renewable energy sources into their developmental agenda,” Adogame stated.

The SRADev ED further explained that the process of deploying and recognising renewable energy needed a top-to-bottom approach due to the upfront high cost-intensive nature which served as a major disadvantage.

He also noted that the deployment, in the long run, was a win for the environment and the overall economic interest.

On the way forward, Adogame stated, “What we expect is that there should be a policy framework put in place to ensure that renewable energy is mainstream and fast-tracked into our energy sustainability drive.

“Though we have within the Ministry of Energy, the Energy Commission of Nigeria, which drives and has a renewable energy plan for Nigeria, that remains vastly at the national level and state governments have not been mandated strongly by way of policy mainstreaming to ensure that energy source per state or derivable in a state must be a particular per cent of renewable and non-renewable energy.”

He noted that for a strategic mainstreaming of renewable energy, the government must place a mandate and percentage of electricity each state must generate within a time frame.

Since access to energy was a fundamental human right, to prevent the poor from being excluded from access to electricity from renewable due to the huge cost, Adogame stated that the government should subsidise the importation of renewable energy facilities into certain sectors to encourage the adoption of renewable energy.

He further noted that once the rich who could afford renewable energy were off the grid, it created a way for the poor to have access to the power supply.

Despite the climate change strategies implemented to ensure a reduction in carbon emissions, the SRADev ED noted that the country still relied heavily on fossil fair and engaged in gas flaring, among others.

“I think that some works and efforts are ongoing lately but are not sufficient given the energy crisis as well as the climate commitment we have made. I think there is fear because we are dependent on oil and gas and I think Nigeria is deliberately not massively deploying and embracing renewable energy potential because if it can do that and in policy mainstreaming, it is going to be very obvious and the impact is going to be appreciated from top to bottom,” Adogame added.

‘Banditry delaying completion of wind farm’

Responding to the delays in the full operation of the Katsina wind, the Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change, Salisu Dahiru, stated that the insecurity situation in the state threatened the completion of the project.

He said, “What threatened is, one, insecurity, because the foreigners on that project were kidnapped so investors began to shy away.”

Dahiru further noted, “Nigeria retains this not-so-nice position as the number one country in which you have portable generators that are using either diesel or petrol. We have the highest numbers and concentrations of these generators. Some industries are using generators purely for the provision of energy. But this energy transition plan has turned this disadvantage into a huge energy transition plan.”