Energy growth and sustainability through smart grid approach: a case study of the Nigeria electric grid

Abstract

Over the last few years, energy growth and sustainability in Nigeria have suffered many difficulties resulting to inadequacy in the country’s power supply. Numerous solutions proffered by industry experts and energy reforms by the Nigerian government have brought little or no improvement in the energy sector including the unbundling of the nation’s major power company (Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN). The nation’s poor power supply resulting from outdated and unmaintained transmission and distribution facilities, inadequate power generation coupled with decrepit metering system used by consumers have immeasurably affected the nation’s economic development. This paper aims at introducing smart grids and distributed generation approaches as the potential and viable solutions to solve Nigeria’s poor power generation, transmission, and distribution issues. The smart grid technology transforms the nation’s traditional grid technology in order to achieve improved efficiency and reliability by incorporating new communication technologies, which have been lacking in the Nigerian power system. In this paper, the Nigerian energy sector is also examined and the benefits of smart grids to the sector are presented. The current situation of Nigeria in terms of smart grid implementation is also assessed and discussed while its challenges and recommendations are documented. However, it is concluded that in modernizing the current grid and considering the potentials of smart grid, numerous benefits can be achieved and the power supplied to consumers will be significantly improved.