Achieving Universal Electricity Access

Achieving Universal Electricity Access PART I: INTRODUCTION Background of Study The importance of modern energy services in promoting socio-economic development has been extensively documented in the literature (Kaygusuz 2011), (Kanagawa and Nakata 2007) (Kanagawa and Nakata 2008). Access to modern energy services is closely related to other indicators of a descent standard of living in the 21 st century, namely, availability of portable drinking water, literacy, health services, child mortality, etc (Meisen and Akin 2008). For example, in rural areas, the higher luminance of modern lighting brightens homes and encourages pupils to study in the nights; clean cookstoves and cookers using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can reduce incidences of indoor-air pollution caused by reliance on traditional biomass for cooking (Isihak, Akpan and Adeleye 2012), etc. As the most versatile carrier of energy, electricity is important in the provisions of basic social services in health, water, etc. Electricity is also useful promoting t he income formation in rural areas through the development of rural microenterprises (Akpan, Essien and Isihak 2013a). Electricity also powers large machinery in factories to increase productivity. Modern energy services, especially electricity, are crucial to several sectors of the economy of any country: higher education, agriculture, financial services, communication, rural development, etc. Despite the huge advantages of having access to electricity, several millions of persons around the world lack access to electricity. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that in 2011 about xxx billion persons lacked access to electricity of which xxx million were in sub-Saharan Africa (IEA 2011). Consequently, one of the major energy challenges confronting countries in sub-Sahara Africa is that of providing access to modern energy services to its citizens. The electricity access situation in Nigeria is similar to that of many developing countries: the electricity access rate in Ni geria – the percentage of population without access to electricity – is 56% (NPC 2014) which is equivalent to about xxx million persons. However, the electricity access rates in the various states vary significantly from 10.9% in Taraba State to 99.1% in Lagos State as shown in Fig. 1. Figure 1: Electricity access rate in Nigeria by states Source of data : (NPC 2014) Three main factors which are inter-related are responsible for this disparity in the electricity access rates across the states: The population density across the states varies significantly as shown in Fig. 2. Places with higher population density have higher commercial activities and in-turn higher demand for electricity. Therefore, transmission and distribution lines are often constructed to deliver electricity to such locations because the electricity so delivered will not be under-utilized [1] ; The major sources of electricity generation are natural gas and hydro. The gas-powered plants are locat ed in the Niger Delta area where there is abundance of natural gas while the hydropower plants are in Niger State. Because transmission lines are constructed to evaluate power from the generation source to demand areas, these states and other states along the path of the transmission lines tend to have higher electricity access rates; Due to the first two reasons itemized above, the national grid does not cover all parts of the country. The electricity grid covers the states with high population density but not those with low population density as shown in Fig. 3.