Abstract
Niger State (Nigeria) was selected as a case study of renewable, affordable and user friendly clean energy provision in remote areas of developing countries. Niger state has 80% of its 4.5 million population living in rural agrarian areas with low literacy rates, there is a lack of wind thus eliminating wind as widely available potential power source. Based on the assessment of the local large insolation, the type of agricultural, biomass and husbandry resources, this study selected the design of anaerobic digestion units processing mostly animal and human waste, and whose heating and power requirement would be entirely provided by solar photovoltaic/thermal to maintain optimum efficiency of the biogas production. The designs was carried out at the scale of up to 15 household demand (community scale). Volume and therefore the production of biogas maybe increased or decreased in the design considered, and local, low cost resilient material were proposed. The proposed system was costed for a community of 24 people, demonstrating the potential for clean and renewable gas production economically.
Highlights
A range of influencing factors must be considered when choosing alternative low carbon energy solutions including; landscape, resource availability, resource and technology reliability and cost
Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, the population is supported by a fertile landscape, a long rainy season with high annual rainfall and high solar irradiance throughout most of the nation
The Anaerobic Digestion (AD) system was characterised by a fixed volume corresponding to communities of up to 15 households, an agitator powered by the electricity from the solar PVT, a heating system provided by the solar PVT, an inlet and outlet, mesh in order to keep floating biomass submerged, thermometer, entrance hatch and a H2S scrubber
Summary
A range of influencing factors must be considered when choosing alternative low carbon energy solutions including; landscape, resource availability, resource and technology reliability and cost. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, the population is supported by a fertile landscape, a long rainy season with high annual rainfall and high solar irradiance throughout most of the nation. This large population is maintained despite an extremely low life expectancy, estimated at around 53 years [1]. The power crisis that has been affecting Nigeria for many years has been exacerbated by some key failings; poorly maintained/aging equipment and infrastructure, disruptions in supply of oil/gas and high level corruption [2] In this aspect it is very similar to the current situation of Pakistan
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