Community/shared solar power option: a pathway to sustainable rural electrification in Nigeria
Laen...
Kuupäev
2021
Kättesaadav alates
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Estonian University of Life Sciences
Abstrakt
Nigerian governments at all levels have been making concerted effort to extend
electricity supply to the rural areas. Among the several efforts by various governments are
formulation of rural electrification policies, creation of agencies for the administration of rural
electrification projects, installation of diesel power generators, and development of public-private
partnership strategies in solving rural power supply problems. While significant progress has been
made, several rural communities are yet to have access to electricity supply. Rugged terrain and
limited financial resources are among the constraints to extension off-grid to the rural areas.
However, electricity supply, being one of the drivers of economic development and social wellbeing, is a problem that has to be tackled head-on. The current climate change concern and many
other environmental issues of our time necessitate finding a sustainable solution to the problem.
Consequently the goal of this study was to examine the potentials of community solar power
option as a sustainable rural electrification approach in Nigeria. Other goals included identifying
potential hick-ups and solutions to lifecycle management of community solar. Moreover, the
study was to determine the suitable configuration for efficient and sustainable community solar
power management in Nigeria. The study methodology involved intensive literature survey,
historical data collection and case studies on rural electrification in Nigeria as well as examples
of community solar projects in Nigeria. Preliminary results revealed that community solar power
would be a sustainable approach to rural electrification in Nigeria if a number of conditions are
satisfied. Some of the conditions to be satisfied include devolving the management of a
community solar system to a participative committee of stakeholders representatives, and
incorporating community capacity building in the plan. Other conditions are government,
corporate and municipalities’ collaboration in funding such projects from scratch till after one or
two years of operation, and incorporation of monitoring and intervention strategies for continuous
power supply and further improvement.
Kirjeldus
Submitted: February 6th, 2021 ; Accepted: June 11th, 2021 ; Published: November 8th, 2021 ; Correspondence: idunmade@mtroyal.ca, israel_dunmade@yahoo.ca
Märksõnad
community solar, lifecycle management, renewable energy, rural electrification, shared solar, sustainable energy, articles