Energy in Nigeria


's primary energy consumption was about 108 Mtoe in 2011. Most of the energy comes from traditional biomass and waste, which account for 83% of total primary production. The rest is from fossil fuels and hydropower.
Nigeria has oil reserves of about and gas reserves of about 5 trillion cubic meters, ranking 10th and 9th in the world, respectively. Global production in 2009 reached of oil and 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Nigeria is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Overview

Petroleum

Nigeria was 10th top oil producer in 2005. In 2009 Nigeria was not among the top ten crude oil producers, but it was the fifth oil exporter.
Oando is Nigeria's largest oil company, headquartered in Lagos. Oando is Nigeria's largest non-government owned company in the energy industry. It is listed on the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Oil and gas contributors include Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC, Chevron Corporation, CNOOC, CNPC, Conoco, Eni, Exxon Mobil Corporation, GEPetrol, Petrobras, Shell, Statoil and Total

Ogoniland

live historically in the Niger Delta in the southeastern region of Nigeria. Ogoniland oil facilities are operated mainly by the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation in the upstream and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company in the downstream since the 1950s. The Ogoni campaign against Shell Oil is led by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. MOSOP is campaigning for the expulsion of Shell from Ogoniland.
According to the UNEP assessment in 8/2011, oil contamination is widespread in Ogoniland and oil spills continue still even in the old oil field areas. The Ogoni people live with this pollution every day. As Ogoniland has high rainfall, delay in the cleaning of the oil spills leads to spread oil contamination in the farmlands. Oil contamination of land areas, sediments and swampland are extensive. The wetlands around Ogoniland are highly degraded and facing disintegration. Fishermen must move to less contaminated areas in search of fish. The current Ogoniland community has lived with chronic oil pollution throughout their lives. Of most immediate concern in 12/2011, community members at Nisisioken Ogale are drinking water contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above the WHO guideline.

Environmental damage

The Niger Delta is one of the most polluted regions in the world. More oil is spilled each year than in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Nigerian government reports more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000 and 2,000 major spillage sites.
Pollution and environmental damage to the oil industry has a serious impact on people living in the Niger Delta. The environment laws are poorly enforced. Government agencies responsible for enforcement were ineffective and, in some cases, compromised by conflicts of interest. Communities in the Niger Delta frequently had no access to vital information about the impact of the oil industry on their lives. On 1 May 2010, crude oil from a leaking oil from an offshore platform of ExxonMobil's Qua Iboe oilfield reached the shores of the Ibeno community, Akwa Ibom state.
Representatives of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell are appearing in a Dutch civil court to face accusations of polluting Nigerian villages in 2012. The UNEP report concludes that pollution of soil by petroleum hydrocarbons in Ogoniland is extensive inland areas, sediments and
swampland.

Oil spills

The Niger Delta area is oil-rich.
Because of Nigeria's role as a regional power, leading oil exporter, and major contributor of troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions, foreign governments – including the United States and the United Kingdom—have been reluctant to publicly criticize Nigeria's human rights record. In 2010 the UK increased funding to £140 million in aid to Nigeria, including security sector aid, without demanding accountability for Nigerian officials and members of the security forces implicated in corrupt practices and serious human rights abuses.

Gas

Gas in Nigeria is supplied to a variety of industrial users in and around Lagos. The gas originates in the Niger Delta area. It passes to Lagos via the Escravos pipeline. A number of major industrial users utilize this gas in captive power plants such as Guinness's Ogba and Benin breweries.

Uranium mining

Nigeria has uranium deposits, but no details were given since their discovery in 2005.

Renewable energy

Renewable energy penetration in Nigeria is still in its nascent stage, the only source of renewable energy in the country is hydro-power and biomass; wind and solar energy have only been deployed in a minuscule amount.
With energy policies and initiatives developing, wind and solar energy generation projects are gradually being planned throughout the country. Developments in solar and wind energy are gradually increasing with the discovering of their high potentials and benefits for Nigeria's environment and society.
Nigeria may suffer a deterioration of its position in international affairs if the global transition to renewable energy is completed and international demand for its petroleum resources ceases. It is ranked 149 out of 156 countries in the index of Geopolitical Gains and Losses after energy transition.

Current and future projects in renewable energy

Nigeria is only able to supply power to half of its population of 198 million. Currently, Nigeria generates a small amount of energy from renewable sources such as hydro power, solar, wind and biomass. In 2005, the Energy Commission of Nigeria developed the Renewable Energy Master Plan, which suggests ideas for renewable energy policies, as well as possible technologies that can be used to fulfill their goals. They are targeting to expand their energy access to 90 percent of the population by 2030 and 30 percent of their total generation to be from renewable sources.
Due to its geographic location near the equator, Nigeria has the potential to generate most of its energy through solar. Most of the big cities in Nigeria now power their street lighting with solar energy through state beautification projects. Low Energy Designs, a firm from the United Kingdom, was contracted to build solar powered street lights across Nigeria. This twelve-month project is expected to cover about 300 km and cost about 7 million U.S. dollars. In addition, the World Bank has lent Nigeria about 350 million to build a solar power grid by 2023 that will help generate power for hospitals, rural areas, schools and households.
In February 2018, Nigeria completed the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project, which supplies about 261,938 citizens with clean renewable energy. This project was in partnership with USAID, private donors, government agencies, financial institutions and non-governmental organizations. The goal of the project was to build connections to 2.5 MW of power through off and on grid sources, which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.5 million metric tons.
The Nigerian Energy Support Programme was developed in conjunction with the German development agency GIZ and International Finance Corporation. This involves training programs for Renewable energy systems and energy efficiency.
Training is carried out by Nigeria's premier power systems trainer National Power Training Institute of Nigeria and other power trainers including the various energy research centers run by the Energy Commission of Nigeria.
Nigeria has secured financial support from Chinese lenders to start construction on their Hydro-electric plant in Mambilla. The idea to create this project was originally proposed in 1972 and is finally ready to be put into action over 45 years later. Chinese lenders are providing 85% of the total 5.8 billion dollar project and Nigerian government will provide the rest of the funding. The 3,050 megawatt power plant is expect to take five years to build. The project will create four dams that measure about 50 meters in width and 150 meters in height.

Nuclear

Since 2004 Nigeria has a Chinese-origin research reactor at Ahmadu Bello University, and has sought the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop plans for up to 4,000 MWe of nuclear capacity by 2027 according to the National Program for the Deployment of Nuclear Power for Generation of Electricity. Nigeria hoped to begin construction in 2011 and start nuclear power production in 2017–2020. On 27 July 2007 Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua has urged the country to embrace nuclear power in order to meet its growing energy needs. Construction has not begun but plans have not been canceled by 2016.
In April 2015, Nigeria began talks with Russia's state-owned Rosatom to collaborate on the design, construction and operation of four nuclear power plants by 2035, the first of which will be in operation by 2025. In June 2015, Nigeria selected two sites for the planned construction of the nuclear plants. Neither the Nigerian government nor Rosatom would disclose the specific locations of the sites, but it is believed that the nuclear plants will be sited in Akwa Ibom State, in South-South Nigeria, and Kogi State, in the central northern part of the country. Both sites are planned to house two plants each.
In 2017 agreements were signed for the construction of the Itu nuclear power plant.

Challenges

Despite a huge effort by public and private agencies to promote the adoption of alternative energy sources in Nigeria, renewable energy is still marred with several challenges hindering the complete integration, especially in the rural areas of Nigeria with an abundance of solar but little or no access to the grid.
The major challenge seems to be capital intensity. The average rural dweller in Nigeria engaged in subsistence farming can not afford the cost of acquiring the components needed to generate electricity that can power as little as a 500W system. This is largely due to the high cost of deep cycle batteries, which is necessary for an off-grid solution.
Another challenge is the lack of adequate skilled labor in about 200 million population. Installing a renewable energy system is technical and requires the expertise of a trained technician. Some renewable energy companies in Nigeria have identified this problem and established renewable energy training academies across Nigeria.

Solar energy

Solar thermal energy has been utilized for decades in processes for cooking, food preservation, and agriculture.
In 2016, President Buhari inaugurated the country's first solar power plant in Ibadan.
As of December 2017, Nigeria's federal government has invested $20 million on solar projects throughout the country.
Nigeria's climate, resources, and economic and societal conditions make solar energy a suitable alternative energy source.
The Northern part of Nigeria has the highest potential for solar.
The North has an average solar insolation of 2200 kWh/m^2, while the southern part has 1800 kWh/m^2.
In addition to adequate power outputs, solar energy would aid the country in reducing carbon emissions from fossil-fueled energy generation.
Furthermore, solar power would provide a reliable and stable source of energy in both urban and other locations and could alleviate the resources-conflict associated with oil.

Windpower

Wind turbine generation is another developing energy source in Nigeria.
Wind speeds in Nigeria typically range from 2–9.5 m/s.
With such low wind speeds investments and interest in wind energy has not been as high as solar power.
However, wind power could be advantageous to rural and agricultural areas.
Wind power would also be beneficial in Southeast with wind power potentials higher than 4 m/s, and in the North where wind speeds reach up to 6 m/s at a 10 hub height.
Initiatives such as Nigeria's National Renewable Energy Plan are beginning to set forth goals in wind turbine implementation.
However, with insufficient data and its status as a relatively new technology, development overall has been slow and challenging.