Integrating Renewable Energy and Smart Grid Technology into the Nigerian Electricity Grid System

Abstract

The electricity situation in Nigeria can be described as epileptic with no sign in view of improvement. This epileptic power situation affects the manufacturing, service and residential sectors of the economy which in turn affects the country's economic growth. Even with the recent reforms in the power sector, more than half of the country's population still lack access to electricity. The epileptic condition of the power sector can be attributed to the inadequate and inefficient power plants, poor transmission and distribution facilities, and outdated metering system used by electricity consumers. This paper attempts to present the way forward for the Nigerian poor electricity situation by reviewing the power sector as a whole and the renewable energy potentials. We identified the problems in the national grid and then proposed a smart grid model for the Nigerian power sector which will include renewable energy source. We believe that the content of this review paper will solve the poor epileptic condition of the power sector in Nigeria and also enable the proper integration of smart grid technology into the national grid.

Sustainable energy development in Nigeria: Current status and policy options

“…Therefore, Nigeria is located within a moderate wind 21 regime. The wind speed in southern Nigeria is relatively low, except for coastal regions and offshore, where the high wind speeds indicate great potential for exploiting wind energy [77].…”

“…Assuming an average of 18.9 MJ/m 2 /day (5.3 kWh/ m 2 /day), Nigeria has an estimated 17,459,215.2 million MJ/day (17.439 TJ/day) of solar energy arriving over its 923,768 km 2 land area. The annual average intensity is 6898.5 MJ/m 2 /year or 1934.5 kWh/m 2 /year [77].…”

The Necessity of the Development of Standards for Renewable Energy Technologies in Nigeria

“…Clean and environmental friendly energy can only be achieved through the proper utilization of renewable energy technology [7]. The renewable energy resources in Nigeria are as enormous as they are diverse [8]. However, the problem lies with the level of utilization which is very low.…”

“…The strategy for achieving this target included: encouraging local manufacture and assembly of renewable energy components, provision of subsidies, and establishment of technical standards for RE components and introduction of feed-in-tariffs. The strategy is yet to be fully adopted as the reforms in the energy sector are still ongoing and decisions on tariffs and subsidies for renewable energy and other incentives have not yet been taken [8].…”

“…Wind speed in Nigeria ranges from 4.0 to 6.0 m/s in the northern part of the country and 2.5 to 4.0 m/s in the southern part of the country as shown in Figure 2 [19]. With this amount of wind energy potential, small scale wind turbine could be installed to boost electricity supply and also be integrated into the national grid [8].…”