Article Summary
- The World Economic Forum has identified priority areas that can help increase clean energy access.
- These priority areas also explore the use of natural gas.
- Maximizing the use of gas sources can foster some $18.3 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the local economy.
Nigeria needs to increase clean energy access to meet electrification goals. The World Economic Forum has provided some priority areas the country needs to investigate which could provide energy to over 90 million Nigerians without energy access.
WEF listed these priority areas in a 2023 community paper, titled Mobilizing Investments for Clean Energy in Nigeria.
According to WEF, the priority areas include:
Scaling rural electrification through increased distributed solar generation and mini-grids, and off-grid technology alternatives.
The overall off-grid power generation capacity approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is about 500 megawatts (MW), approximately 3 MW of which was derived from solar mini-grids.
Off-grid alternative generation to complement the national grid can foster $9.2 billion in annual market investments for solar mini-grids. Off-grid technology alternatives, such as mesh grids, can save Nigerian households and companies $4.4 billion annually.
There is a large potential for scaling, considering the significant number of unserved customers.
Using natural gas as a transitionary fuel with a viable pathway to greener solutions.
Maximizing the use of gas sources can foster some $18.3 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the local economy. This potential can create exponential growth in the nation’s domestic value chain.
However, the majority of gas exploration is situated in less desirable associated gas projects, although the majority of gas reserves are non-associated due to the current lack of exploration infrastructure.
Also, gas distribution infrastructure lacks capital investment to support consistent gas distribution, which has led to a fluctuation in pricing and a lack of reliability for consumers.
Enabling transmission and distribution of the main national grid and scaling access to power sources.
Nigeria possesses sizeable natural gas, hydro and solar resources, with the ability to generate 12,522 megawatts (MW) of electric power from existing plants. Yet, despite this capacity, transmission and distribution infrastructure can only support the dispatch of a little above 4,000 MW.
This shortage of supply has hindered the growth of large and small-scale businesses and created a mass of unserved households that do not have access to the national grid.
However, the plan to have an end-to-end operational system with 7,000 MW availability in the short term and a long-term goal of 25,000 MW can harness private sector investment in the nation’s infrastructure.
What you should know
Power sector experts have said that Nigeria needs to strengthen the local supply chain for quality components and appliances (and reduce import duties until that happens).
They also believe that further clarification within regulations on the relationship between the grid and mini-grid, will increase clean energy access.
