Small Hydropower Development in North-Central of Nigeria: An Assessment

Abstract

This paper focuses on small hydropower development in North-Central and electrification, which are given high priority in the government’s efforts to increase the standard of living in rural areas, reduce rural-urban migration trends, and realize other development objectives. However, the three key challenges for rural electrification are: how to provide sustainable energy (electricity) services to the poorest of the poor, who have no purchasing power to pay for the services? How to offer the most cost-effective, clean and reliable electricity to those who are currently spending a significant share of their income on energy? How to set up commercial infrastructure to provide these services? In North-Central zone where rivers, waterfalls and streams with high potentials for small hydropower (SHP) development is abundant, where harnessing these hydro resources leads to decentralized use and local implementation and management, thereby making sustainable rural development possible through self-reliance and the use of local natural resources. This can be the most affordable and accessible option to provide off-grid electricity services. Based on zone’s level of hydropower development, small hydropower station is defined as follows: Small = installed capacity between 2 MW and 10 MW; Mini ≤ 2 MW; and Micro ≤100 kW. In recent studies carried out in other zones and four (4) river basins, over 78 unexploited SHP sites with the total potential of 734.3 MW were identified. However, SHP potential sites exist in virtually all parts of the zone with an estimated capacity of 3,500 MW.