Assessing the Technical Offshore Wind Energy Potential in Lagos, Nigeria

Looking at the current state of things globally and the greenhouse effect renewable energy sources are no longer a matter of choice. The population of Lagos coupled with the perpetually erratic power supply makes renewable energy the new and sure way to go especially as an alternative supply of electricity. The nation as a whole has a peak generation of 5300MW on average which is only about 30% of its actual needs. The use of renewable energy in Nigeria is growing but so is the population this study seeks to ascertain the possibility of using offshore wind energy as an alternative power supply in Lagos Nigeria. The onshore wind energy resource has been fairly explored but its counterpart offshore wind energy has not been explored. This study focuses on the technical assessment of offshore wind resources on the Gulf of Guinea around the Lagos Nigeria region. Having analysed wind data from existing literature and analysed offshore wind farm construction the paper presents a technical layout of the number of turbines per the specified area and the potential output using Aerodyn SCD 8.0/168 as a case study. The results show that the annual energy demand of about 96.36TWh in Lagos can be met with the annual generation of about 191.2TWh for a wind farm at the shore and 200TWh for waters with depth less than 50m

A review of renewable off-grid mini-grids in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is home to 75% of the world’s unelectrified population, and approximately 500 million of these live in rural areas. Off-grid mini-grids are being deployed on a large scale to address the region’s electrification inequalities. This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of the research on the off-grid renewable mini-grids in SSA. The study covers the current status of the level of deployment of off-grid mini-grids. It also reviews multi-criteria decision-making models for optimizing engineering, economics, and management interests in mini-grid siting and design in SSA. The statuses of financing, policy, and tariffs for mini-grids in SSA are also studied. Finally, the current status of energy justice research in respect of mini-grids in SSA is reviewed. The study shows the important role of decentralized renewable technologies in the electrification of SSA’s rural population. Within a decade since 2010, the rural electrification rate of SSA has increased from 17% to 28%, and 11 million mini-grid connections are currently operational. Despite these gains, the literature points to several injustices related to the present model by which SSA’s renewable mini-grids are funded, deployed, and operated. Hence, several recommendations are provided for the effective application of the energy justice framework (EJF) for just and equitable mini-grids in SSA