Solar Energy Project - Factors | Nigeria

Solar Energy 1
SOLAR ENERGY PROJECT
Student name
Tutor
Date

Solar Energy 2
Introduction
Renewable energy represents all types of powers that are regenerated from natural
resources such as wind, water, biomass, biofuels and sunlight. In Nigeria, the number of
people who use solar energy is high because the country has an inadequate electricity supply.
The solar generating system provides problem-free and reliable alternatives to power
generating systems in Nigeria. Research shows the solar thermal system is economical and
environmentally friendly.
Social Economic and Environmental Factors
Social Economic Factors
Energy demand in Nigeria trends upward and this has led to an increase in the amount
of electricity required. This growth has made the government use solar energy as a way of
providing an adequate environment. The solar energy system is cheap and affordable to
almost everyone in Nigeria since only a solar panel is required (Giwa et al., 2017, p. 637).
The economic benefit of using solar energy is that it is mostly preferred due to increased
price of oil forcing people to look for the cheapest sources of energy.
Solar energy helps in national foreign exchange conservation. It provides employment
opportunities (El, 2017. P. 76). It extends the workday production in business sectors and
domestic use.
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors are the primary reasons as to why Nigeria adopts the solar
energy project. There are several reasons to support this argument. Solar energy is clean and
does not cause greenhouse effect on the environment like fossil fuels. Solar energy does not

Solar Energy 3
pollute water, thus eliminates threats to health such as carbon dioxide and other chemical
emissions that are effective (Cota & Kumar, 2015, p. 1074).
Replacing electricity and coal eliminates Sulphur, which is a common component of
acid rain. Solar energy is purely generated sun, and this reduces the greenhouse effect; it does
not make noise as compared to diesel generators. Since solar energy is from the sun, it does
not emit carbon (IV) oxide. When solar plants are created, people will not have to use diesel
or kerosene in their daily life. This brings about better health, and little maintenance is
needed, reduced noise pollution and the solar panels have a high warrant (Cota & Kumar,
2015, p. 1074). Nigeria has high solar energy potential with sun radiation that averages to
19.8MJm2per day. The sunshine average is six hours a day hence can generate a lot of solar
power output.
Since solar energy is environmentally friendly, it should be supported financially by
industrialists and the government to lower the cost of implementing solar panels for
commercial as well as residential consumption (Akorede et al., 2017, p. 9). The government
can assist by training the institutions that offer solar project services, reduce their risks,
reduce soft cost and demonstrating projects
Government Policies and Regulations to Support the Project
1. Standards of renewing solar electricity and solar set aside
 This can be done through consistent policy signals and sending incremental to
encourage a steady increase in solar power establishment.
 Consider the size of the project, the location, and land use.
 Designing specific RECS to meet the requirements of the solar set aside.
 Setting appropriate and reducing alternative compliers payments rates
2. Feed-in tariffs