Wind Power Potentials in Cameroon and Nigeria: Lessons from South Africa

• DOI: 10.3390/en10040443
• Publication Date: 2017-03-27T14:49:10Z
• Authors: Abdullahi Abubaka...; Asan Vernyuy Wirba; Jorge Alfredo Ard...; Ricardo Albarracín; Firdaus Muhammad-...; Álvaro Jaramillo ...; Nurul Aini Bani; Abu Bakar Munir
• Keywords: 690; Renewable energy; Technology; 330; Energías renovables; Energía Eléctrica; Nigeria; 02 engineering and technology; 7. Clean energy; 333; TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering; Viento; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2593; South Africa; 11. Sustainability; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Cameroon; Recursos energéticos; renewable energy; wind power; Cameroon; Nigeria; South Africa; T; Energía eólica - Nigeria; wind power; renewable energy; winds; Renewable energy, Wind power, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa; 13. Climate action; Energías Renovables; Medio ambiente; Wind power; Power resources; environment; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_8401; Wind power - Nigeria

Wind energy has seen a tremendous growth for electricity generation worldwide and reached 456 GW by the end of June 2016. According to the World Wind Energy Association, global wind power will reach 500 GW by the end of 2016. Africa is a continent that possesses huge under-utilized wind potentials. Some African countries, e.g., Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and South Africa, have already adopted wind as an alternative power generation source in their energy mix. Among these countries, South Africa has invested heavily in wind energy with operational wind farms supplying up to 26,000 GWh annually to the national grid. However, two African countries, i.e., Cameroon and Nigeria, have vast potentials, but currently are lagging behind in wind energy development. For Nigeria, there is slow implementation of renewable energy policy, with no visible operational wind farms; while Cameroon does not have any policy plan for wind power. These issues are severely hindering both direct foreign and local investments into the electricity sector. Cameroon and Nigeria have huge wind energy potentials with similar climatic conditions and can benefit greatly from the huge success recorded in South Africa in terms of policy implementation, research, development and technical considerations. Therefore, this paper reviews the wind energy potentials, policies and future renewable energy road-maps in Cameroon and Nigeria and identifies their strength and weakness, as well as providing necessary actions for future improvement that South Africa has already adopted.