WASTE Management - recycling, biomass & biogas use  for energy production

The biomass resources of Nigeria can be identified as crops, forage grasses and shrubs, animal wastes and waste arising from forestry, agriculture, municipal and industrial activities, as well as, aquatic biomass. Crops such Sweet sorghum, maize, Sugarcane were the most promising feedstock for biofuel production. It has been estimated that Nigeria produces about 227,500 tons of fresh animal waste DAILY (!). Since 1 kg of fresh animal waste produces about 0.03 m3 biogas, then Nigeria can potentially produce about 6.8 million m3 of biogas every day from animal waste only. Although biogas technology is not common in Nigeria, various research works on the technology and policy aspects of biogas production has been carried by various scientists in the country. Only the potential of biogas produced from bio-waste (house-holds) with around 40 Mio to/year is 9 Mio MWel / year,  this means electricity for 4-5 mio households (+/-20 Mio people). 

HYDRO

Since Nigeria has several streams such as Kaduna, Niger, Benue, Cross Rivers as well as their respective tributaries, the mini hydro scale plants can be set with minimum Investment.

The country is reasonably endowed with this large rivers and some few natural falls. Small rivers and streams also exist within the present split of the country into eleven River Basin Authorities, some of which maintain minimum discharges all the year round. In a study carried out in twelve states and four  river basins, over 278 unexploited small hydropower (SHP) sites with total potentials of 734.3 MW were identified.

However, SHP potential sites exist in virtually all parts of Nigeria with an estimated total capacity of 3,500 MW. They indicate that Nigeria possesses potential renewable source of energy along her numerous river systems, a total of 70 micro dams, 126 mini dam and 86 small sites have been identified.

The total technically exploitable hydropower potential based on the country’s river system is conservatively estimated to be about 11,000 MW of which only 19% is currently being tapped or developed. These rivers, waterfalls and streams with high potentials for hydropower, if properly harnessed will lead to decentralized use and provide the most affordable and accessible option to off-grid electricity services especially to the rural communities.

Solar

Nigeria lies within a high sunshine belt and thus has enormous solar energy potentials. Solar radiation is fairly well distributed with average solar radiation of about 19.8 MJm –2 day-1 and average sunshine hours of 6hrs per day. If solar collectors or modules were used to cover 1% of Nigeria’s land area, it is possible to generate 1850 x103 GWh of solar electricity per year; this is over one hundred times the current grid electricity consumption level in the Country.

Wind Energy

Generally: Wind is one of the greatest sources of natural energy. It is free and available day and night for the production of economical power and electricity.

Wind energy is available at annual average speeds of about 2.0 m/s at the coastal region and 4.0 m/s up to 8 m/s at the far northern region of the country. With an air density of 1.1 kg/m3, the wind energy intensity perpendicular to the wind direction ranges between 4.4 W/ m2 at the coastal areas and 35.2 W/ m2 at the far northern region. The potential uses of wind energy in the country are for electricity generation and water pumping in rural Areas.