The document discusses renewable energy readiness in Nigeria. It finds that while Nigeria has abundant renewable resources like solar, wind, and hydro, current utilization is still low apart from large hydro projects. Projections show electricity demand rising dramatically by 2030. Meeting this demand will require major investment that the government cannot provide alone. The document recommends encouraging private sector investment and developing renewables on a large scale. Key agencies in Nigeria like REA and NERC are working to promote mini-grids and a supportive regulatory environment to develop renewable energy.

1. TOPIC: RENEWABLE ENERGY: HOW READY ARE WE AS A NATION?
INTRODUCTION:
There are two key words around which this lecture is anchored, ‘Renewable’ and ‘Energy’.
Renewable Energy as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary relates to those forms of energy that
are produced using the sun, wind, etc., or from crops, rather than those using fuels such as oil or
coal:
We therefore look out for renewable electricity or fuel, power or renewable materials or resources
such as wood biomass or even wastes from cash crop like Sorghum or any biomass that can
be burned as a fuel as a renewable source of energy. In practical sense, these are natural resource
or source of energy that is not depleted by use, such as water, wind, or solar power.
Renewable Energy as defined by the business dictionary are energy derived from resources that
are naturally regenerative or are practically inexhaustible, such as biomass, heat (geothermal, solar,
thermal gradient), moving water (hydro, tidal, and wave power), and wind energy.
Municipal solid waste may also be considered a source of renewable (thermal) energy {1}.
Energy resources abounds in nature in renewable or non-renewable forms. The major challenge
surrounding the use of fossil fuel, such as coal, oil and gas relates to climate change. Most of the
renewable sources in Nature either exist in forms too lean or dispersed or in forms that their impact
per square meter is of little or no benefit or they might be too concentrated in a region and beyond
the handling capacity of man. and hence need to be gathered and harnessed, in order for them to
have useful impact.

2. The shift away from fossil fuel began with a statement by a Swedish scientist named Svante
Arrhenius in 1896. He was the first to state that the use of fossil fuel could contribute to global
warming, {2}.
The issue has become a hot-button topic over the course of the last few decades. Today, there is a
general shift towards environmental awareness globally and the sources of our energy and the
manner of utilization are coming under closer scrutiny.
We are now encouraged to use energy more efficiently and to lower emissions, lower the prices of
fuel and ensure reduction of pollution. These and others are all advantages that the use of
alternative fuels can often provide. The exploitation of energy efficiency potentials and the use of
renewable energies play a key role in reaching global CO2 reduction targets {3}.
SOME OF THE RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE
There are many available sources of renewable energy and different technological methods used
for harnessing them are made available in different literatures.
The systematic electro mechanical, Electro chemical or photo-electronic conversion techniques
that has been developed and being used in the harnessing of energy from the movement of wind
and water, the heat and light of the sun, there are several methods that are used in Energy
Conversion Technologies, many more still under development to convert these renewable
resources into electricity. Each comes with its own unique set of technologies, benefits,
and challenges.{2}{4}{5}
Solar, Hydro and wind are very common to us and has proven to be commercially practicable.
Solar energy is the power from the sun. It is a vast and inexhaustible resource that can supply a
significant portion of our electricity needs. There are two main technologies used to convert the
sun’s energy into electricity, these are Molten Salt Concentrated solar plants which uses molten

3. salt as the fluid and the photovoltaic (PV) solar panels techniques, which are electronic devices
used to convert the sun light radiation to the flow of electrons.
Wind turbines uses the electro mechanical means to harness air currents through rotational means
and convert them to emissions-free power. In some part of the world, wind power is one of the
fastest growing renewable technologies and has the potential to provide a significant portion of
our electricity needs.
In Hydro technology, we employ the use of dams to concentrate water mass, then we use controlled
fall of water current or in some modification, movement of water to rotate mechanical blades which
ibn turns moves alternator and generates for electricity, this is known as hydroelectric power and
it is still is the largest source of renewable power worldwide {5}. There is a growing interest in
mini-hydro, those of capacities up to 100KW and a bit above, and new concept are coming up with
the use of water vortex, air vortex, ocean temperature gradients such as the Ocean Thermal
Electricity Generation (OTEC) {1} {6}. Other conversion techniques are mentioned below:
• Geothermal: These are energy left over from the volcanic activities, eruption and
disturbances during the planet earth formation. These remnants are augmented by heat from
radioactive decay which seeps out slowly everywhere, we have some areas where the
geothermal gradient (increase in temperature with depth) is high enough to exploit to
generate electricity but this is limited to a few locations on Earth and many technical
problems exist that limit its utility.
• Hydrogen and other Fuel Cell: These are also not strictly renewable energy resources but
derivatives of resources that are very abundant in availability and are very low in pollution
when utilized. Gases like Hydrogen can be burned as a fuel, typically in a vehicle, with
only water as the combustion product. This clean burning fuel can mean a significant
reduction of pollution in cities, hydrogen can also be used in fuel cells, which are new
devices similar to batteries, to power an electric motor, the limiting factor is that significant
production of hydrogen requires abundant power and the result is the relocation of pollution
from the cities to the power plants, but there are several promising methods to produce
hydrogen, such as solar power, that may alter this picture drastically {7}

4. THE ENERGY SITUATION AND JOURNEY TO RENEWABLES IN NIGERIA
The Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) was established by Act No. 62 of 1979, based on the
amended Act No. 32 of 1988 and Act No. 19 of 1989, the ECN has a statutory mandate for the
strategic planning and co-ordination of national policies in the field of energy, they are empowered
to carry out overall energy sector planning and policy co-ordination.
ECN collaborated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under an IAEA regional
project titled “Sustainable Energy Development for Sub-Saharan Africa (RAF/0/016)” {8}
The result of this project is to model the Energy demand and Energy supply of Nigeria over a
period of 30 years, starting from the year 2005 up till 2035. Hence, at any time any researcher can
use the report as a base line to check progress made in the country.
To put a little clarity, the project entails capacity building for energy planning and the
determination of the actual energy demand and the strategies for supply for each participating
country over a 30-year time horizon. The implementation of the project requires the establishment
of a Working Team (WT) and a Country Study Team (CST) both of which include the major public
and private stakeholders in the energy sector of the country. The working team consists of technical
experts that directly implement the project and reports to the CST, which serves as the steering
committee for the project on a regular basis. Members of the WT were trained on the use of the
IAEA models and have computed the Nigeria energy demand and supply projections covering the
2005-2035.
There are two models used in the project and both developed by the IAEA.
Energy Modelling tools:
i. Model for the Analysis of Energy Demand (MAED)

5. ii. Model for the Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental
Impact (MESSAGE).
According to A.S. Sambo {8}{9} the following for the Nigeria’s energy case, four economic
scenarios were developed follows:
• Reference Scenario - 7% GDP Growth;
• High Growth Scenario - 10% GDP Growth;
• Optimistic Scenario I – 11.5% GDP Growth; and
• Optimistic Scenario II – 13% GDP Growth (based on Presidential Pronouncement for the
desire to be among the first 20 economies by 2020).
Below tables shows the result of the projection for the demand and supply over the years of interest.
For the 13% GDP growth rate, the demand projections rose from 5,746MW in the base year of
2005 to 297,900MW in the year 2030 which translates to construction of 11,686MW every year
to meet the demand.
The team arrived at a cumulative investment of US$ 484.62 billion, which includes the investment
and operations cost for the 25-year period is, which means investing US$ 80.77 billion every five
years within the period. In conducting the studies, all the available energy resources in the country
were considered in order to broaden the nation’s energy supply mix and enhance its energy security
{8}{9}.
With the result of the modelling shown above and looking at the estimated total investments to
meet the demand for the growth Scenario (US$ 484.62 billion), the research concluded that the
Federal Government alone cannot provide this level of funding.
The final recommendation was to encourage state governments, private sector and foreign
investors to be involved. Deploying ALL country’s energy resources in order to achieve matching
supply with demand on a continuous basis. This highlighted the need for aggressive development
of the renewable resources on a large scale.

6. Table 1: Electricity Demand Projection from MAED
Table 2: Electricity Supply Projection from MESSAGE
Table 3: Optimal Electricity Generation Mix projection by IAEA using MESSAGE
Table 4: Nigeria Renewable Energy Sources
Source: A.S. Sambo, Matching Electricity Supply and Demand in Nigeria, 2008.

7. In line with our discussion, it is right to point out that Nigeria is also endowed with abundant
renewable energy resources, the significant ones being solar energy, biomass, wind, small and
large hydropower with potential for hydrogen fuel, geothermal and ocean energies.
The estimated capacity of the main renewable energy resources is given in the Table 4. In Nigeria
case, except for large scale hydropower which serves as a major source of electricity, the current
state of exploitation and utilization of the renewable energy resources in the country is very low,
apart from the huge catchment power projects, mini-grid and Microgrids are still largely pilots and
demonstration projects with no commercial orientation.
HOW READY IS NIGERIA
Since the early 2000, there has been different workshops, debates and charrettes which focused on
the Nigerian Energy situation and solutions that might be best in helping our economy. Generally,
the outputs has been levels of awareness creation on the concept of renewable energy benefits,
efficiency, development of a road map to integrate energy efficiency policy into Nigeria’s policy
framework; development of strategies to promote the concept of renewable energy technologies.
One of such happened in 2008, when the Community Research and Development Centre
(CREDC), in partnership with the Global Green grants Fund and the Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria organized a National Dialogue to Promote Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency in Nigeria. The event held in Abuja from 10 to 11 November 2008, they
agreed that Nigeria is faced with myriad of developmental challenges, one of them being that 60-
70% of the Nigerians do not have access to electricity and modern energy services. {6}
Renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency has been identified as promising solutions
to Nigeria energy crisis and for more than two decades, experts in the field of renewable Energy
has constantly maintained and demonstrated that renewable energies, apart from being sustainable
and inexhaustible in supply, they can be set up in small units and is therefore suitable for
community management and ownership. Hence renewable energy technologies can be used to
develop a decentralized energy system {2}{6}.

8. PROMOTING RENEWABLE ENERGY THROUGH THE NATIONAL
ELECTRIFICATION REGULATION COMMISSION (NERC) AND THE RURAL
ELECTRIFICATION AGENCY (REA)
THE MINIGRID OPPORTUNITY,
AN EXCERPT FROM THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AGENCY 2017 INVESTMENT BRIEF:
Nigeria is the biggest and most attractive off-grid opportunity in Africa, and one of the best
locations in the world for mini-grids.
Nigeria has the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa (GDP of $405 billion), has 180 million
people, and flourishing growth (CAGR of 15% since 2000).
A significant amount of the economy is powered largely by small-scale generators (10–15 GW)
and almost 50% of the population have limited or no access to the grid.
As a result, Nigerians and their businesses spend almost $14 billion annually on inefficient
generation that is expensive ($0.40/kWh or ~₦140/kWh or more), coupled with poor quality, noisy,
and polluting.
Developing off-grid alternatives to complement the grid creates a $9.2B/year market opportunity
for mini-grids and solar home systems that will save $4.4B/year for Nigerian homes and
businesses.
There is large potential for scaling, installing 10,000 mini-grids of 100 kW each can occur for 10
years and only meet 30% of anticipated demand.
Getting off-grid solutions to scale and commercial viability in Nigeria will unlock an enormous
market opportunity in Sub-Saharan Africa across 350 million people in countries with smaller
demand and/or less-robust economies.

9. The Rural Electrification Agency (REA), tasked with developing the Nigerian off-grid power
market, created the Off-Grid Electrification Strategy as part of the Power Sector Recovery
Programme (PSRP).
The Rural Electrification Agency was set up to bridge the gap of power availability by focusing
on the off grid rural settlement, the unserved and underserved as well. The REA has taken the
leadership role, by adopting the mini-grid, Micro-grid and the power catchment approach to cater
for the need of up to 60% estimated populace without electricity.
Mini-grid and Micro-grid are used simultaneously to describe an isolated power solution system
consisting of main power generating station and a distribution and billing network which is serving
an isolated village, town and city and detached or detachable from the National grid. Although,
the Generating station can be anything from diesel to Gas to any renewable form, the most popular
within mini grid developers is the solar PV solution.
The specification for the design, building of the Mini-grid or Microgrid and standards for the
electrical parameters are given by the National Electrification Regulation Commission (NERC).
The regulation specified makes it possible for future connection to the National grid without any
technical or commercial interconnectivity issue {6}{8}{10}.
NIGERIA’S POLICY AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTS MINIGRID
MARKET GROWTH
The policy makers have enacted policies that can help to grow the renewable industry by putting
the following in place:
• Enabling policy and regulation that is unmatched anywhere in the world,
• Pre-feasibility site evaluation to de-risk projects and reduce developer costs,
• Creation of a tender process to facilitate near-term investment,

10. • Rich landscape of development partners and active companies
Nigerian regulation provides more guidance, preparation, and protection for mini-grid
development than policies in other markets.
THE NATIONAL ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION (NERC) SUPPORT
TOWARDS RENEWABLE ENERGY IN NIGERIA
The following are NERC Regulatory Framework for Mini-grids.
i. Tariffs: Tariff flexibility is currently allowed. All Mini-grids under 1 MW are allowed
to set cost-reflective tariff
ii. Grid Exit: Mini-grid interconnection with the grid has been included in regulatory
framework with the following features:
• Technical preparation for interconnection,
• Financial preparation for interconnection,
• Permitting and Accelerated licensing
iii. Integrated Energy Plan: There is a clear program for off-grid energy with clearly
defined priority to support isolated mini-grids in their role in powering commercial
loads
SUPPORT FROM THE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AGENCY TOWARDS THE
RENEWABLE REVOLUTION:
The Rural electrification Agency conducted detailed mini-grid pre-feasibility evaluation so as to
help developers reduce development risk and cost.
REA teams prioritized sites by: • Sufficient load/density • Productive-use, daytime, and flexible
loads • Supportive local and state government • Community engagement • Solar resource and
availability of gas • Accessibility

11. The result of REA work in this short space of time has helped prioritization with existing data has
identified 200+ sites with at least 100 kW demand {10}{11}
REA teams are gathered detailed data at various sites and used the data to improve site selection
REA survey data includes: • Number of households, shops, productive loads, and other institutions
• Appliances, productive loads, time of use • Estimated load profile • Existing self-generation (size
and number of units) • Fuel price and availability • Cellular service (providers and reliability) •
Current income and willingness to pay • GIS data for villages and potential customers
Detailed surveys completed by REA are available online {10}, within which developers can find
the top 200 sites across 5 priority states as at November 2017. There are sites that has been
prioritized for initial development aimed at REA providing developers with a better idea of site
viability as all site selection process provides clarity, reduces risk, and accelerates process for
private mini-grid development. The REA has also gone ahead to develop interactive database-
based tool which allow developers and investors to quickly identify promising sites for
development. Finalizing funding arrangement, vis a vis tender process with the World Bank in
order to streamline development, all these also supported with continued coordination with
development partners to support, fund and help with the take off of off grid markets in Nigeria.
MINIGRID REGULATION
It is very important the regulate the diverse parties trading within the renewable energy space, this
will help to forestall any impediment to the smooth growth of this sector. The Mini-grid Regulation
is specifically designed to accelerate electrification in areas without any existing distribution grid
(unserved areas) and areas with an existing but poorly electrified or non-functional distribution
grid (underserved areas), especially but not limited to rural areas.
The regulation shall promote the engagement of the private sector, communities, non-
governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in achieving nationwide electrification, and it
seeks to minimize major risks associated with mini-grid investments such as {10}:
(1) Sudden tariff changes: as tariffs would have been agreed in advance by the relevant parties;
and

12. (2) Stranded mini-grid operator investments due to the connection of the main grid to mini-grid in
circumstances where the main grid has been extended to cover the mini-grid area. In such cases, a
fair compensation mechanism would be applied for mini-grid operators that choose to exit.
LICENCE TO OPERATE
1. Isolated mini-grids up to 100 kW of distributed power (registration required)
2. Isolated mini-grids larger than 100 kW of distributed power and up to 1 MW of generation
capacity (permit required)
3. Interconnected mini-grids larger than 100 kW of distributed power and up to 1 MW of
generation capacity, the connected community the mini grid developer and the distribution licensee
have to sign a Tripartite Contract which becomes binding for a party upon approval by the
Commission. (permit required)
4. All mini-grids larger than 1 MW must apply for a full license.
CONCLUSION
Going by the journey so far and the preparation, even as a potential market, Nigeria is more than
ready for the renewable energy age, we only need to look at the implementation of our policies
concerning renewable energy and the offshoot business within mini-grid. The platform is set for
private participation and exploitation. Individuals and conglomerates are gearing up, just as it was
in the days of Global Service in Mobile Communication (GSM), renewable based mini-grid,
Microgrid, Home solution is the next revolution.

13. REFEENCES:
1. Dictionaries:
• https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/renewable;;
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/crisis.html
2. Renewable Resources Coalition, Alternative Energy https://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/alternative-energy-
sources/
3. Wolfram Krewitt, Kristina Nienhaus, Role and Potential of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Global
Energy Supply (2009), ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH OF THE GERMAN FEDERAL MINISTRY OF THE
ENVIRONMENT, NATURE CONSERVATION AND NUCLEAR SAFETY Project-no. (FKZ) 3707 41 108 Report-
no. (UBA-FB) 001323/E
4. Union of Concerned Scientists, Renewable Energy, Unlimited Resources, little or no pollution or Global warming
emission: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy#.WyzcNkyn_IU
5. http://sweetcrudereports.com/2018/03/12/nigerian-govt-to-concession-10mw-katsina-wind-farm/
6. Sule L. Nadabo, Renewable Energy as a solution to Solving Energy Crisis In Nigeria (2010), Vaasa University of
Applied Sciences.
7. http://www.altenergy.org/renewables/renewables.html
8. Sambo, A. S. (2008). Paper Presented at the ‘‘National Workshop on the Participation of State Governments in the
Power Sector: Matching Supply with Demand’’, 29th July 2008.
9. Sambo, A. S. (2006). Paper Presented at the Renewable Electricity Policy Conference ‘‘Renewable Energy Electricity
in Nigeria; the Way Forward’’ 11th December 2006,
10. The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) ‘’Nigeria Mini-grid Investment Brief, 2017.
11. The REA project Dashboard: http://rea.gov.ng/projectdashboard/

14. ABOUT THE SPEAKER.
Born in December 1974, into a Christian family, Engineer Odunlami Olayinka Kayode graduated from the University
of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos, Nigeria, where He Obtained his Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering, in the year
1998.
After working for some years, He went further for a higher degree at the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, Nigeria,
where he was awarded a Masters Degree in Energy Technology and Management, in the year 2016. He is presently
studying for his MBA, Masters in Business Administration at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Nigeria.
Engr. Odunlami has worked and contributed in different capacities and in various Organization within the
Information and Telecommunication Sector.
His professional career has taken him through Mobile Network Operator like MTN, Nigeria, Technology Solutions
and Equipment Vendor Organizations like Ericsson AB, Sudan, Nokia Siemens Networks, NCR and others like Telinno
Consulting Ltd, and Spectrum Technology, Lagos. He now works as the Transmission Planning Manager at the IHS
Towers Nig. Ltd, a global Telecommunications Tower Provider, with portfolio of over 24000 towers across Europe,
Middle East and Africa.
His major career interest includes Telecommunication Engineering and Renewable Energy and topics surrounding
Sustainability. He is happily married with 4 children.
Odunlami Olayinka Kayode-
B.Sc. Lagos, M.Sc. Ibadan (COREN).