Opportunities and Challenges in the Renewable Energy Sources in Federal Capital Territory, Niger and Kogi States in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities in the emerging renewable energy sources in Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Niger and Kogi States of Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. The design used for the study was a survey research design. The simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample for the study which composed of twenty technical staff from Energy Commission of Nigeria who are expert in Renewable energy and sixtyfive lecturers drawn from higher institution offering Electrical/Electronic Technology/Engineering in FCT, Niger and Kogi States. The sample was drawn through a simple random sampling Technique from a total of four higher institutions (two in Niger, one in Kogi, and one in FCT) and Energy Commission of Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire on challenges and opportunities of renewable energy sources which was face validated by three lecturers of Electrical/Electronic Technology in Federal University of Technology, Minna. Data obtained were analysed using mean, standard deviation, and t-test. The result obtained revealed that renewable energy can generate Megawatt of electricity, create thousands of jobs, improve agricultural practices and public health, stimulate insustrial development among others. The study also revealed lack of skilled manpower, higher cost of investment in renewable energy, inadequate awareness on the potential or the opportunities in renewable energy sources, governments’ overdependence on non-renewable energy sources such as gas and thermnal among others are some of the challenges hindering the exploitation of renewable energy in Noorth-Central Nigeria. It was therefore recommended among others that government at various level should pay more attention to renewable energy sources by allocating more resources to it in their budget.