Nigeria announced that it had set a target of moving at least 20% of the country to off-grid renewable energy sources by 2012. Alternative Energy Africa set out to find if readers thought this lofty goal was in fact attainable.
The AEA website posed the question: Will Nigeria meet its ambitious target of meeting 20% of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2012?
And the results are in, and perhaps surprisingly is that 35.29% of voters lean toward the possibility that the country will come close while 32.35% do not feel it is possible. Of the remaining participants, 26.47% said it is possible, just unlikely; and 5.88% felt that the country would succeed.
A representative of Nigeria’s Minister of State for Energy (Power), Mallam Sanusi Garba said at the International Renewable Energy Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria in October that the government was working with public private partnerships (PPPs) in order to reach the goals set forth in the National Energy Master Plan. In addition, the Federal Government is expected to meet with National Assembly to enact the necessary legislation for power generated from renewable energy sources.
“The sector regulator, NERC, has already initiated work on creating an appropriate space in the tariff regime to accommodate the utilization of renewable sources of energy for grid connection,” Garba said.
While strides have been made to tap into the renewables sector in Nigeria, it is unclear how much progress has actually been made in relationship to the 2012 goals.