Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Energy Policy
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol
Policy Perspective
Solar energy policy directions for safer and cleaner development in Nigeria
Chigbogu Godwin Ozoegwu a, b, Patrick Udeme-obong Akpan a, b, *
a
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Research and Development Division, Comdalytics Nigeria Limited, Nigeria
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords:
Renewable energy
Solar energy
Energy policy
Cleaner development
Solar PV end-of-life management
This paper examines the Nigerian Solar Energy Policy (NSEP), as contained in the National Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP). It addresses the policy gaps and offers new directions for NSEP to
develop further towards supporting safer and cleaner development of Nigeria. The formulation of the policy
statements needs to take care of the adverse impacts of solar derived wastes on the environmental and human
health. This need is quantitatively justified using projected data that was computed from interpolation and
geometric series analyses to show that the share of solar PV-derived waste in Nigerian and global e-waste stream
will get more significant going forward and, as such, must be accorded increased attention in e-waste monitoring
policies in order to forestall worsening toxicity concerns. Security should be guaranteed for future utility-scale
solar energy installations which could be vandalized by the host communities and lead to a repeat of the sub­
sisting crises in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Priorities on the various solar energy sources and technologies, on
the basis of current socioeconopolitical realities in Nigeria, should dictate the chronology for both skills and
market development. Regulatory/fiscal obligations/incentives must prioritize the target obligors/recipients ac­
cording to their relative importance in the economy.
1. Introduction
Nigeria is a vast country demographically and geographically. It
covers a land area of 923,768 km2 and, based on the year 2006 census
figure of 140,431,790 and the population growth rate of 3.2 per annum
(National Population Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ICF Interna­
tional, 2014), it had a population of about 186,458,724 in 2015. This
population is more than 50% of the total population of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which stood at 327
million in 2015 (ECOWAS Commission, 2015) and it is the seventh
highest population in the world (Ozoegwu, 2018). Nigeria is endowed
with a high-intensity solar energy resource in the range 3.5–7.5
kWh/m2/day (145.83–312.50 W m-2) (Aliyu et al., 2015). Moreover,
being sited near the equator, the solar energy resource is much more
evenly available all year round than in the temperate climates. For
instance, Fig. 1 shows a comparison of global irradiation on horizontal
plane (GIHP) at ground level between Abuja in Nigeria and Berlin in
German. The relative low variation of the solar energy available in
Nigeria is obvious from the figure. The mean and standard deviation of
the GIHP depicted in Fig. 1 for Abuja are 18.8029 MJ m2 day− 1 and
1.5878 MJ m2 day− 1 while for Berlin the values are 10.5596 MJ m2
day− 1 and 6.8656 MJ m2 day− 1. The higher mean value and lower
variability of the solar energy resource in Nigeria highlight the impor­
tance of Nigeria to the future global renewable energy and carbon
market (Ozoegwu, 2019, 2018).
Nigeria has a very good potential for renewable energy but lacks
policy implementation and economic incentives for renewable energy
technology development (Ajayi, 2013). There is, therefore, the need for
a comprehensive solar energy policy to attain this full market potential.
In recognition of the importance of energy policy, Nigeria’s Federal
Ministry of Science and Technology produced a Draft Energy Policy
Guideline in 1984. In furtherance of this initiative, the Energy Com­
mission of Nigeria produced a Draft National Energy Policy (NEP) in
1993. Shortly afterwards (in 1996), the draft was reviewed by an
inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Ministry of Science and
Technology. The contents of these drafts, which were never signed into
law, were limited in scope, depth and comprehensiveness. Towards
developing a comprehensive and integrated energy policy for Nigeria,
the Government constituted an inter-ministerial committee to look into
the year 1996 document. As a result of this, the first NEP was signed into
law in April 2003 (The Energy Commission of Nigeria, 2003).
The policy pursued a holistic energy mix and sustainable
* Corresponding author. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
E-mail addresses: chigbogu.ozoegwu@unn.edu.ng (C.G. Ozoegwu), Patrick.akpan@unn.edu.ng (P.U.-o. Akpan).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112141
Received 19 June 2020; Received in revised form 14 December 2020; Accepted 4 January 2021
Available online 12 January 2021
0301-4215/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
Section 4. Financing options for the proposed PV waste management
policies in Nigeria are recommended in Section 5. The conclusions
drawn from the work are itemized in section 6.
2. Nigeria’s solar energy policy (NSEP)
2.1. NSEP statements articulated in NREEEP
NREEEP focuses on power generation from hydro, wind, solar,
biomass, geothermal, wave and tidal and hybrid sources. The immediate
priority was accorded to solar power alongside hydro and wind power.
The key NSEP policies articulated in NREEEP were formulated to drive
the penetration of solar energy in Nigeria. The policies are listed below:
i. The nation shall effectively harness solar energy resources and
integrate them with other energy resources
ii. The nation shall promote the use of efficient solar energy con­
version technologies such as use of photovoltaic, solar thermal
and concentrated solar panels for power generation
iii. The nation shall promote solar energy for productive use
iv. The nation shall intensify efforts to increase the percentage of
solar energy in the present energy mix
v. The nation shall promote the development of energy storage
technologies
vi. The nation shall complement solar power development with en­
ergy efficiency programs.
Fig. 1. Global irradiation on horizontal plane at ground level in Abuja
and Berlin.
development by advocating all energy resources in Nigeria which, of
course, includes the renewable energy sources. In a better-harmonized
detail, the NEP considered the development, exploitation, supply, uti­
lization, environment issues, efficiency, financing and policy imple­
mentation associated with the viable energy resources in Nigeria (Ley
et al., 2015). The NEP provided the blueprint for specialized policy
developments for renewable energy, energy efficiency/conservation and
rural electrification. The solar components of the NEP were formulated
in two policies:
2.2. The gaps
There are some important issues that are yet to be addressed in the
NSEP policy statements. These include: (a) Solar devices waste man­
agement strategy; (b) Ranking of various solar energy sources and
technologies on the basis of the socioeconopolitical realities in Nigeria;
(c) Fiscal and regulatory framework that prioritizes the key industrial
players in Nigeria; and (d) Security of future utility scale solar energy
installations.
i. The nation shall aggressively pursue the integration of solar energy
into the nation’s energy mix
ii. The nation shall keep abreast of worldwide developments in solar
energy technology.
The roadmap provided by NEP led to the development of the Na­
tional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP) (The
Federal Ministry of Power, 2015) which was drafted by the Federal
Ministry of Power (FMP) in 2014 and ratified by the Government in May
2015. This empowered the relevant Ministries, Departments and
Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria to adopt and develop
several renewable energy policies, regulatory and economic instruments
which have been discussed in detail (Ozoegwu et al., 2017).
An appraisal of NREEEP reveals that policies for promoting the se­
curity of utility-scale solar power installations and for managing solar
derived wastes in order to reduce eventual facility, human and envi­
ronmental safety issues are lacking. This study is motivated by the need
to articulate the missing policies. The policy recommendations are
timely not only for Nigeria (because it leads the ECOWAS region in the
deployment of solar energy technology with a projected rise in genera­
tion of solar derived wastes (Weckend et al., 2016)) but for the world
because there is a growing global concern that the PV panels deployed in
the past couple of decades are reaching their end-of-life (Maani et al.,
2020). Toxicity and large landfill space requirements are the major
concerns associated with solar PV end-of-life (Azeumo et al., 2019). A
quantitative assessment of the expected trend of the share of solar
PV-derived waste in the Nigerian and global e-waste stream is carried
out to further highlight the need for the proposed policy
recommendations.
Nigeria’s solar energy policy is appraised with the aim of pointing
out the gaps in Section 2. To justify the need for bridging the identified
gaps, Nigeria’s projected PV module wastes in the context of the global
outlook is quantitatively assessed, and the related toxicity concerns
discussed in Section 3. Based on the identified and justified gaps, policy
recommendations for safer and cleaner development are proffered in
• Need for Solar devices waste management strategy: As Nigeria’s
solar PV market matures, the issue of waste will increasingly
compromise the environmental benefits of PV usage. To date, no
policy prescription has considered the hazardous nature of the used
solar PV modules. It has been argued by the Associated Press that the
cost of disposing the hazardous sludge associated with solar PV
manufacturing could delay the time of recovering an investment
capital by up to three months (Dearen, 2013). The scale of these
fallouts will be high in the event of a broad acceptance of solar PV in
a power-starved populous country like Nigeria. Underplaying the
importance of safe disposal and recycling policies for PV waste would
make the choice between accumulating a hazardous waste and rising
CO2 emission a hard one to make.
• The policy statements did not rank the various solar energy sources
and technologies on the basis of the current socioeconopolitical
realities in Nigeria. In other words, no program has been laid down
for the chronology of both skills and market developments that
consider the readiness at any stage to handle the wastes associated
with solar at the stage.
• There is a strong need for a fiscal and regulatory framework that
prioritizes the key industrial players in Nigeria if the securities of
health, environment and energy are to be achieved concurrently.
This is because such players are the best positioned to cushion the
potential economic impact of future solar waste-aware regulations.
• The issue of security of future utility-scale solar energy installations
is of utmost importance considering the fact that the locals of host
communities could vandalize the installations if they (the locals) feel
harmed by any adverse impact of the installations and/or feel
2
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
deprived of their land, especially when there is no economic benefit
in such installations for them.
The relative size of global PV panel waste is projected to increase
steadily over time. Relative to new installations, it is estimated to reach
4%–14% in 2030 and 80% in 2050 (Weckend et al., 2016). The markers
in Fig. 2a and b shows graphical illustrations of the trend based on the
projected values (Weckend et al., 2016) while the interpolated values
are shown as curves. The interpolated curves are derived from
MATLAB-implemented shape-preserving cubic hermit interpolation.
The product of the interpolated values in Fig. 2a and b were used to
generate Fig. 2c. Fig. 2b reflects the fact that PV modules get lighter over
time for same power production.
The probability of failure during the life (which is divided into these
phases; production, transportation, installation and use, and end-of-life
disposal) of PV panels is modelled as Weibull distribution given as
( ( t )α )
P(t) = 1 − exp −
(1)
T
To provide a strong motivation for a more detailed discussion of
these and other points, which are linked with safer and cleaner devel­
opment, the outlook of Nigeria’s PV module wastes and the associated
toxicity concerns are first quantitatively analyzed in the next section.
3. Nigeria’s projected PV module wastes and the toxicity
concerns
With the gaps in NREEEP identified, it is necessary to further un­
derscore their importance with a quantitative trend analysis of solar
derived wastes in order to provide a justification for subsequent policy
recommendations necessary for closing the gaps.
where t is the time in years, T = 30 is the average lifetime and α is the
shape factor. The two interpolated PV waste generation scenarios pre­
sented in Fig. 2d are based on α = 5.3759 and α = 2.4928 for the
regular-loss and early-loss scenarios respectively, see (Weckend et al.,
2016) for more detail. Fig. 2d shows that the percentage of PV waste of
the cumulative installed capacity will rise from 0.25% to 31.10% from
3.1. The projected PV module wastes
The historical sizes of installed PV capacity and the parameters of PV
module failure probability are good predictors of the historical sizes of
PV module wastes. Therefore, the best plan for managing future PV
module wastes is to make rational projection of installed PV capacity.
Fig. 2. The projected global trends of (a) cumulative power capacity of installed PV, (b) PV panel weight-to-power ratio, (c) mass of cumulative installed PV panels,
and (d) percentage of PV panel waste to installed capacity.
3
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
2016 to 2050 for the regular-loss scenario while it will rise from 1.42%
to 40.43% in the same interval for the early-loss scenario. This will
amount to a massive e-waste to deal with, and this calls to question how
the rising amount of PV module waste compare to the overall rising
global e-waste. Adopting a global e-waste quantity of 44.7 million
tonnes in 2016 and an annual rate of growth of e-waste of 3.50% from
2016 to 2021 (Balde et al., 2017), the percentage of PV panel waste to
the global e-waste is plotted in Fig. 3.
A steadily rising trend is obvious from the plot. The figure is gener­
ated from the interpolated global data of PV module waste from the
shape-preserving cubic hermit interpolation and the geometric pro­
gression of global e-waste given by
(
r )i− 1
xi = x1 1 +
(2)
100
time. PV module waste has not been accorded any significance in the
Nigerian e-waste stream (Nnorom and Odeyingbo, 2020) maybe because
of the relatively low values generated in Nigeria at the moment and the
fact that PV module waste is not known to be part of Used Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (UEEE) that is imported from developed countries
into Nigeria. However, PV module wastes may become more significant
in the Nigerian e-waste stream in future just like the global case
demonstrated above, and more attention should be given to it.
3.2. The toxicity concerns
End-of-life PV panels present a paradox; while they are economically
valuable because of the useful materials that can be extracted from them
when treated and recycled, they also contain very toxic substances.
Aluminium, glass, Cu, Te, In and Ga, including cells, are typically
recoverable to different degrees (Sica et al., 2018). The major interest
here is on the toxicity concerns of the end-of-life PV panels. The ele­
ments like Cd and Pb which are found in most PV modules are toxic to
environmental and human health (Sica et al., 2018). Lead dissolves in
acidic or basic environments from the lead-rich components of PV
modules like cell metallization layer and the soldered joints of silicon
wafer-based modules (Wirth, 2020). Cadmium and selenium, in both
metallic or oxide forms, are pollutants that mostly derive from thin-film
PV modules (Sica et al., 2018). Antimony, which is added to glass to
improve its transmissivity, later constitutes a disposal problem as the
antimony eventually finds its way to the ground water (Wirth, 2020).
These show that the rapidly growing trends in the preceding subsection
indicate that the future of not only Nigeria, but the world is faced with
large amounts of toxic PV module wastes, and there is therefore a need
to take measures to pre-empt serious damage to human and the envi­
ronmental health.
where r = 3.5% is the annual rate of growth of e-waste, x1 = 44.7
million tonnes is the mass of e-waste in 2016 and xi is the tonnes of ewaste in the i-th year. The figure shows that PV panel waste tends to
have increasingly more significant share in global e-waste. The per­
centage of PV waste of the global e-waste will rise from 0.10% to 0.26%
from 2016 to 2021 for the regular-loss scenario while it will rise from
0.56% to 2.14% in the same interval for the early-loss scenario. With no
mention having been made of PV module wastes in (Balde et al., 2017),
this rising trend means that more attention must be accorded to PV
module wastes in future revisions of the global e-waste monitoring.
With the global scenario in perspective, Fig. 4 is generated by using
the shape-preserving cubic hermit interpolation on the data of the
country-specific projection in (Weckend et al., 2016) for Nigeria. Fig. 4a
shows that Nigeria’s PV module waste is projected to grow steadily from
150 to 400,000 tonnes from 2016 to 2050 for the regular-loss scenario
while it will grow from 200 to 550,000 tonnes in the same period for the
early-loss scenario. Fig. 4b is generated from Fig. 4a on the assumption
that the historical and projected global PV panel weight-to-power ratio
given in Fig. 2b applies to Nigeria. Therefore, if the projected PV ca­
pacity is expected to lie between the compared scenarios then Nigeria’s
installed capacity will rise from the range 230–300 tonnes (or 3–5 MW)
in 2015 to the range 935,480 to 1,286,300 tonnes (or 21,878 to 30,083
MW) in 2050. Nigeria has a very large market for solar PV (Adurodija
et al., 1998), and the policy landscape is evolving. Therefore, these
projections should be treated as order of magnitude estimates (Weckend
et al., 2016) as the market can change dramatically in the projected
4. Policy recommendations for safer and cleaner development
Policies are always subjected to review as new experiences emerge.
In keeping with this expectation, it is stated in NREEEP that subsequent
versions will expand the window of renewable energy usage. The pro­
posed revision will be influenced by international and local (technology)
developments. The recommendations in section 4.1 - 4.4 are made for
consideration in such future versions.
4.1. Solar devices waste management strategy
1. A Policy framework must be put in place to compel new PV plants in
Nigeria to invest in the on-site treatment of hazardous sludge and
recycling of used solar PV modules. Based on a life cycle assessment
of the delamination and separation phases of PV module recycling,
the thermal-based techniques were recommended over chemical and
mechanical techniques (Maani et al., 2020).
2. A recycling/treatment facility that takes back used PV/storage bat­
tery must be set up by solar PV suppliers that do not plan to be on
ground in Nigeria. A more comprehensive extended producer/sup­
plier responsibility can drawn from the recast Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment Directive 2012/19/EU (European Union,
2012). Such treatment/recycling facilities could be accorded the
“pioneer status” which allows a seven-year tax holiday to pioneering
industries located in the economically disadvantaged local areas of
Nigeria. It should be noted that the “pioneer status” is an already
existing law of the Federation of Nigeria (Ajayi and Ajayi, 2013;
Ozoegwu et al., 2017). The status is recommended irrespective of
location. Additional policy incentives are necessary because PV
recycling costs generally outweigh the landfill costs (Deng et al.,
2019; Mcdonald and Pearce, 2010) meaning that extended re­
sponsibility without extended incentive will hinder solar energy
penetration either by making the product costlier for the end users or
discouraging the manufacturers/suppliers.
Fig. 3. Steadily rising share of global PV panel waste in global e-waste.
4
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
Fig. 4. The projected Nigeria’s trends of (a) PV panel waste and (b) cumulative installed PV capacity in mass and power terms.
2. SEP in Nigeria should be expanded to promote solar energy con­
version technologies that are cost-effective enough to attract the
lower-medium and low-income classes. These classes constitute the
bulk of the Nigerian earning class and hold a larger share of liquidity
in both cash and cashless transactions, thus constituting a large
customer base for the informal sector. Successful economies are
driven by the informal sector, which accounts for 50–80% of GDP
and up to 90% of new jobs in Africa (Benjamin et al., 2014). More­
over, the informal sector gets a boost from the medium and small
scale entrepreneurs when capital investment is low. The cheapest
solar energy conversion technologies are of the thermal type in do­
mestic cooking, heating, cooling and drying. Furthermore, the
technical expertise existing within Nigeria can currently support
solar-thermal technologies, while the technical expertise for photo­
voltaic technology needs further development (The Energy Com­
mission of Nigeria, 2003).
3. A broad acceptance of solar cooking and heating can be exploited to
drive solid waste reduction. This is a comparative advantage that
solar thermal technologies have over solar PV systems. They do not
leave behind hazardous solid or liquid wastes like the solar PV
modules, thus the advocacy is less compromised by environmental
concerns. The cost-effectiveness of solar cooking and heating devices
stem from the fact that the needed materials are cheaply available or
freely available as reusable solid wastes of building and fabrication
sectors. For example, transparent glass cover for creation of green­
house, plywood and sheet wood materials for solar collector casing,
aluminium sheet in the optimal thickness range of 0.5–1 mm for solar
absorber, matte black paint, copper tubes (needed in water heaters),
sawdust and foams (styrofoam wastes from packaging industry, from
discarded mattresses and furniture) for water tank insulation needed
in the case of water heaters, foams and rubber tubes for piping
insulation needed in the case of water heaters, rubber (discarded in
vulcanizing shops) for air-tight contact of glazing with casing and
glass-breakage-avoiding damping and plastic/metal sheet for tanks.
Implementing this suggestion will help to reduce dependence on
biomass fuel for domestic primary energy consumption which now
stands at 50% of overall and harms not only humans but the envi­
ronment as visible in the form of desertification and erosion. In a new
technological development based on reuse of discarded soda cans,
Mgbemene et al. (2017) demonstrated a cheap way to harness solar
energy for heating of homes, preheating of air in industries and for
agricultural drying purposes. Solar cooking and heating accords not
only cost benefits but cleaner development based on reuse of solid
wastes.
3. There is need to set up a reward system for solar PV manufacturers
that voluntarily report the scale and the handling of their wastes. Tax
credits is a very good reward system. If arrangements are not put in
place to take back used PV modules, the wastes will find their way
into the poorly managed municipal solid waste dumps which are
usually set on fire by scavengers to release the copper and other
valuable metals from e-wastes. This will increase the amount and the
spread of dangerous greenhouse gases (GHG) and carcinogenic/tet­
ratogenic compounds. There would then be the possibility of a repeat
of the scenario in the Niger-Delta where the poorly regulated oil and
gas industry pose a health risk to both the locals and their unborn
generation (Amnesty International, 2017).
Prevention is better than cure, therefore, developing and promoting
the technology and policy of recycling and reuse of used solar PV
modules (USPVMs) is a proactive step that would help Nigeria get ahead
of any problem in the event of a wide acceptance of solar PV. There are
no allusions in NREEEP, or any other policy document in Nigeria, to the
hazardous nature of the USPVMs and how they will be safely handled.
The Japanese experience (Tomioka, 2016) and the EU regulations
(REN21, 2017) can serve as models in this regard.
4.2. Ranking various solar energy sources and technologies on the basis of
the current socioeconomic realities in Nigeria
1. Nigeria should pursue a strong domestic market for solar energy
founded on both production and consumption of solar energy hard­
ware. China’s model, as analyzed in (Zhang et al., 2013), of placing
more emphasis on policies promoting manufacturing of renewable
energy hardware and then enhancing the interaction of the priori­
tized manufacturing policy with renewable energy policy, can be
adopted. As a result, China dominated global shipments of solar PV
modules in 2016 (which was for the eighth year running) and
currently accounts for 65% of global module production (REN21,
2017). Adopting this policy in Nigeria will trigger, grow and sustain
a domestic market for both production and consumption of solar
energy hardware. At maturity, such domestic market, can sustain
ambitious investors who need already established renewable energy
markets in their host countries to establish and then penetrate the
international market and, in so-doing, earn more tax returns and
create more jobs for the host. The similar case for wind energy has
been confirmed (Lewis and Wiser, 2007). Successful enactment and
implementation of such policies that enhance domestic markets
frequently lead to growing clean industrial activities (Lund, 2009).
5
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
4.3. Fiscal and regulatory framework that prioritizes the key industrial
players in Nigeria
cohesion and community spirit, and greater empowerment,
especially for remote communities (Haggett and Aitken, 2015).
(3) A reward system for anyone who provides information on the
whereabouts/activities of solar installation vandals.
The importance of the oil and gas sector to the Nigerian economy
cannot be overemphasized. This sector generates a large percentage of
the country’s income, and the manufacturing industry servicing it con­
sumes an enormous amount of energy. This realization offers the
country an opportunity to expand the use of solar energy systems.
Therefore, it is recommended that:
5. PV waste management financing options
The society, producers or consumers of solar PV systems cannot
avoid contributing to the financing of PV waste management. The so­
ciety bears part of the cost through the tax payers money that goes into
waste (or e-waste) management generally. The producers bear a part of
the cost through commitments such as the principle of extendedproducer-responsibility, which forces them to use recyclable, reusable
and nontoxic materials in their products in order to minimize end-of-life
management cost, while the consumers bear some of the burden of
increased spending of the producers (Weckend et al., 2016). Entrepre­
neurs should be encouraged to render services in the end-of-life man­
agement of PV module wastes and government must intervene to
subsidize the fees payable by the consumers for such services, and to
ensure a profit margin after revenue accruing from the recyclables off­
sets the processing and treatment costs. The aforementioned seven year
tax holiday under the pioneer status should be accorded to such busi­
nesses. According to (Nnorom and Odeyingbo, 2020), house-to-house
collection of e-waste by the informal sector is believed to be signifi­
cantly more effective than voluntary take-back systems in developing
countries. Therefore, Nigeria should pursue a financing model that fairly
apportions the cost of managing PV module wastes to the three stake­
holders (society, producers and consumers) in-order to encourage
profitable and safe engagement of committed waste management
entrepreneurs.
1. Nigeria should develop fiscal incentives specifically for the oil and
gas sector. This could be achieved by giving a tax credit propor­
tionate to the extent an industrial player uses solar to meet its energy
needs.
2. Mandates for integration of solar energy should be structured and
enforced specifically for the oil and gas sector.
With feed-in-tariff in place to facilitate the sale of renewable elec­
tricity to the national grid, Nigeria can be said to have a fertile ground
for these policies as excess solar electricity generated by the oil and gas
industries, together with their servicing companies, can easily be offtaken. These recommendations can be extended to the other non-oil
manufacturing sectors. Success in this will amount to cleaner
development.
3. A complete solar powered electrification of the remote oil producing
areas where these oil companies operate should be mandated. This
recommendation could ensure that the confidence of the locals living
in the remote oil producing areas is won back, and the fight against
third-party activities that sabotage oil and gas pipelines is successful.
Furthermore, it could drastically reduce occurrence of pipeline
vandalism, and the local customer base and end-users of the products
of illegal crude oil refinery. Pipeline vandalism (with illegal refinery
as its fallout) is known to be fatally risky to the locals, their infant
children and their unborn generations (Amnesty International, 2017)
and contaminates their environment (Lindén and Pålsson, 2013).
Therefore, this proactive policy against militant activities could be
more effective in the long-term than the traditionally reactive mili­
tary intervention, and will benefit Nigeria with cleaner and safer
development.
6. Conclusions and policy implications
This paper examines the NSEP as contained in the NREEEP. Some of
the important issues/gap that are yet to be addressed in the NSEP policy
statements were highlighted. The issues bother on: (a) Having a solar
devices waste management strategy; (b) Ranking various solar energy
sources & technologies on the basis of the socioeconopolitical realities in
Nigeria; (c) Providing a fiscal and regulatory framework that prioritizes
the key industrial players in Nigeria; and (c) Securing future utility scale
solar power installations.
A future has been charted for further development of Nigeria’s solar
energy policy towards cleaner development. Some of the key recom­
mendations that will address the aforementioned gaps in the NSEP
policy are also presented. Some of the key recommendations are:
4.4. Security of future utility-scale solar energy installations
Utility scale solar energy installations can be safe and serve its pur­
pose for cleaner development when the host communities are satisfied.
For this to happen, a Solar Host Communities Bill, akin to the Host (and
Impacted) Communities Bill for the Oil and Gas sector (SDN, 2018), is
proposed. The bill will assist in reducing the occurrence of utility-scale
solar power installations vandalization, thus avoiding a repeat of the
woes of the oil and gas industry in a different dimension. The compo­
nents/elements of the Bill should include:
• A Policy framework must be put in place to compel new PV plants in
Nigeria to invest in on-site treatment of hazardous sludge and recy­
cling of used solar PV modules.
• NSEP should be expanded to promote solar energy conversion
technologies that are cost-effective enough to attract the lowermedium and low-income classes.
• The oil and gas and manufacturing sectors should adopt selfgeneration of electricity from solar energy sources since feed-intariff is in place to facilitate the sale of surplus to the national grid.
• The National Assembly should consider passing a Solar Host Com­
munities Bill that makes locals part owners of their guest solar energy
facilities so that the facilities would be safe to serve its purpose for
cleaner development. The bill should also mandate training and
financial compensation plans for the individuals and communities
whose lands are acquired by the government and/or investors for the
development of solar energy projects.
• More attention must be accorded to PV module waste component of
e-waste monitoring policies because quantitative studies have
showed that the share of solar PV-derived waste in Nigerian and
(1) A training and financial compensation plans for the individuals
and communities whose lands are acquired by the government
and/or investors for the development of solar energy projects.
This has been highlighted in (Ohunakin et al., 2014).
(2) A plan for community participation in the ownership and man­
agement of solar energy projects. The logic behind the commu­
nity ownership is that locals will not sabotage their own facility.
Nigeria could tap from her experience with the oil and gas sector
which suffers incessant militant attacks because the locals feel
marginalized, and are sad to see the environmental pollution
occurring in their communities. In addition to increased sense of
shared responsibility for security, community participation pro­
vides opportunities for financial revenue, capacity building,
6
C.G. Ozoegwu and P.U.-o. Akpan
Energy Policy 150 (2021) 112141
global e-waste stream will get more significant. This means that the
toxicity concerns will only get worse going forward.
Deng, R., Chang, N.L., Ouyang, Z., Chong, C.M., 2019. A techno-economic review of
silicon photovoltaic module recycling. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 109, 532–550.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.020.
Ecowas Commission, 2015. 2015 annual report, ECOWAS at 40: achievements,
challenges and prospects. Abuja, Nigeria. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.06.0
37.
Haggett, C., Aitken, M., 2015. Grassroots energy innovations: the role of community
ownership and investment. Curr. Sustain. Energy Rep. 2, 98–104. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s40518-015-0035-8.
Lewis, J.I., Wiser, R.H., 2007. Fostering a renewable energy technology industry: an
international comparison of wind industry policy support mechanisms. Energy Pol.
35, 1844–1857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2006.06.005.
Ley, K., Gaines, J., Ghatikar, A., 2015. Nigerian Energy Support Programme.
Lindén, O., Pålsson, J., 2013. Oil contamination in ogoniland, Niger delta. Ambio 42,
685–701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0412-8.
Lund, P.D., 2009. Effects of energy policies on industry expansion in renewable energy.
Renew. Energy 34, 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2008.03.018.
Maani, T., Celik, I., Heben, J.M., Ellingson, J.R., Apul, D., 2020. Environmental impacts
of recycling crystalline silicon ( c-SI ) and cadmium telluride ( CDTE ) solar panels.
Sci. Total Environ. 735 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138827.
Mcdonald, N.C., Pearce, J.M., 2010. Producer responsibility and recycling solar
photovoltaic modules. Energy Pol. 38, 7041–7047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
enpol.2010.07.023.
Mgbemene, C.A., Jacobs, I.O., Agbo, C.O.A., Nwanya, S.C., Ozoegwu, C.G., 2017.
Experimental investigation on the performance of a solar air heater with the
absorber plate made of aluminum soda cans. In: Nigeria beyond Recession:
Unlocking the Potentials of Solar Energy for Economic Recovery. Solar Energy
Society of Nigeria, Abuja.
National Population Commission (Npc) [Nigeria] and Icf International, 2014. Nigeria
Demographic and Health Survey 2013 (Abuja, Nigeria, and Rockville, Maryland,
USA).
Nnorom, I.C., Odeyingbo, O.A., 2020. Electronic waste management practices in Nigeria.
In: Handbook of Electronic Waste Management. INC. https://doi.org/10.1016/b9780-12-817030-4.00014-0.
Ohunakin, O.S., Adaramola, M.S., Oyewola, O.M., Fagbenle, R.O., 2014. Solar energy
applications and development in Nigeria: drivers and barriers. Renew. Sustain.
Energy Rev. 32, 294–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.01.014.
Ozoegwu, C.G., 2018. The solar energy assessment methods for Nigeria: the current
status, the future directions and a neural time series method. Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev. 92, 146–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.04.050.
Ozoegwu, C.G., 2019. Artificial neural network forecast of monthly mean daily global
solar radiation of selected locations based on time series and month number.
J. Clean. Prod. 216, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.096.
Ozoegwu, C.G., Mgbemene, C.A., Ozor, P.A., 2017. The status of solar energy integration
and policy in Nigeria. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 70, 457–471. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.224.
Ren21, 2017. Renewables 2017: global status report. Paris. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
rser.2016.09.082.
Sdn, 2018. The Petroleum Host and Impacted. Communities Development Bill.
Sica, D., Malandrino, O., Supino, S., Testa, M., Lucchetti, M.C., 2018. Management of
end-of-life photovoltaic panels as a step towards a circular economy. Renew. Sustain.
Energy Rev. 82, 2934–2945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.10.039.
The Energy Commission of Nigeria, 2003. National Energy Policy.
The Federal Ministry of Power, 2015. National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Policy.
Tomioka, O., 2016. Japanese companies work on ways to recycle a mountain of solar
panels. Nikkei Ecol.
Union, European, 2012. Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 4 July 2012 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
(recast). Official Journal of the European Union, France.
Weckend, S., Wade, A., Heath, G., 2016. End-Of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic
Panels.
Wirth, H., 2020. Recent Facts about Photovoltaics in Germany. Fraunhofer ISE.
Zhang, S., Andrews-Speed, P., Zhao, X., He, Y., 2013. Interactions between renewable
energy policy and renewable energy industrial policy: a critical analysis of China’s
policy approach to renewable energies. Energy Pol. 62, 342–353. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.enpol.2013.07.063.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Chigbogu Godwin Ozoegwu: Conceptualization, Investigation,
Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Project adminis­
tration, Funding acquisition. Patrick Udeme-obong Akpan: Writing review & editing, Visualization, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
Comdalytics Nigeria Limited 1 provided financial support (Grant No:
2020001) for this research. This funding is highly appreciated.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112141.
References
Adurodija, F.O., Asia, I.O., Chendo, M.A.C., 1998. The market potential of photovoltaic
systems in Nigeria. Sol. Energy 64, 133–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-092X
(98)00095-4.
Ajayi, O.O., 2013. Sustainable energy development and environmental protection:
implication for selected states in West Africa. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.06.009.
Ajayi, Oluseyi O., Ajayi, Oluwatoyin O., 2013. Nigeria’s energy policy: inferences,
analysis and legal ethics toward RE development. Energy Pol. 60, 61–67. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.095.
Aliyu, A.S., Dada, J.O., Adam, I.K., 2015. Current status and future prospects of
renewable energy in Nigeria. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 48, 336–346. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.03.098.
Amnesty International, 2017. Nigeria: investigate “shocking” link between oil spills and
baby deaths [WWW Document]. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/
11/nigeria-investigate-shocking-link-between-oil-spills-and-baby-deaths/ accessed
12.14.17.
Azeumo, M.F., Germana, C., Ippolito, N.M., Franco, M., Luigi, P., Settimio, S., 2019. Solar
Energy Materials and Solar Cells Photovoltaic module recycling , a physical and a
chemical recovery process. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 193, 314–319. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.01.035.
Balde, C.P., Forti, V., Gray, V., Kuehr, R., Stegmann, P., 2017. The Global E-Waste
Monitor - 2017, United Nations University (UNU), International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) & International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)University (UNU).
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) & International Solid Waste
Association (ISWA), Bonn/Geneva/Vienna. In: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.20
14.05.148.
Benjamin, N., Beegle, K., Recanatini, F., Sanntini, M., 2014. Informal economy and the
world bank (No. WPS6888), policy research working paper series. https://doi.org
/10.1097/ICO.0b013e3181eadd0f.
Dearen, J., 2013. Solar industry grapples with hazardous wastes [WWW Document]. htt
ps://www.yahoo.com/news/solar-industry-grapples-hazardous-wastes-184714679.
html (accessed 6.9.20.
1
Website: https://www.comdalytics.com. Email: office@comdalytics.com.
7