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Nigeria’s energy transition plan is hinged on increasing the energy mix from renewable energy sources. An understanding of where the potentials of these renewable energy sources lie is very crucial to enhance quality and timely policy formulations, interventions and proper decision making. This paper aims at providing a holistic assessment of the potentials of key renewable energy resources; solar, wind, biomass and small hydro in Nigeria using ArcGIS; a geospatial analytical platform that provide data and visualizations of these potentials across the country. This paper focuses on the Inverse Distance weighting methodology which overlays various map shapefiles and spreadsheets containing relevant data such as; waterlines and water areas, road and rail networks, crop production, longitude and latitude, wind speeds, solar irradiation, elevation and other relevant map data, shape files for all the Nigerian states and local governments. These data are geo-processed to align the results to the exact locations as provided by their geographical positions stem coordinates. These interpolation results are further reclassed within standard limits for the various output parameters such as crops, forest areas, built-up areas, water bodies, shrubs/grasslands, barren lands and waterbodies to reveal suitability areas for siting the various renewable energy power generating plants.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method is employed to study and mitigate negative environmental impacts using various approaches via OpenLCA software. This paper investigates the LCA of green hydrogen gas production from produced water in Oman, using the Activated Sludge Method (ASM) and Fluidized-Bed Bioreactor (FBB), as treatment technologies. Different scenarios were considered, utilizing the ReCiPe midpoint impact method over 100 years, to evaluate global warming potential (GWP100), fossil depletion potential (FDP), and water depletion (WDP). The objective is to compare and evaluate the sustainability of Dark Fermentation (DF) and Electrolysis methods for hydrogen gas production from both treatment technologies to achieve Oman's Vision 2040. The DF method involves utilizing sludge from both primary and secondary treatment stages, while the Electrolysis method uses the tertiary treatment stage. Results show that using 50 % (15,000 m³/day) of the flow for hydrogen production, the DF yields 60,000 kg of H2/day, while the electrolysis method produces 833,333 kg of H2/day. This difference arises because the DF method depends on sludge production, impacting hydrogen gas production, whereas, the electrolysis method relies entirely on treated water. Both processes significantly impact GWP100. Incorporating solar power for ASM and FBB, as a green energy source, reduces CO2 emissions by 7560.28 kg CO2-eq for DF and 8245.18 kg CO2-eq for electrolysis. This study provides a novelty application, which contributes to advancing sustainability practices through evaluating the environmental impacts of using produced water for green hydrogen production in waste-to-energy and advocates for energy policy making regarding recent climate change commitments.

This paper presents a comparative environmental impact assessment considering different power generation strategies in Oman. The Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, and the OpenLCA tool, were employed in carrying out comprehensive analysis, and evaluation of the various environmental aspects in filling the research gap, by replacing conventional diesel generators with natural gas alternatives in Oman. The obtained results indicate that utilizing natural gas significantly reduces environmental impacts, including a decrease in global warming potential to 2.27 million kg CO2 eq, fossil fuel depletion to 34.5 million kg oil-eq, and ozone depletion to 0.13 kg CFC-11 eq. This study would help in policy decision-making to support a potential shift in power generation system, transitioning from the current use of diesel generator sets to flared produced Natural Gas across crude oil processing plants. Thus, mitigating operational cost, and improving efficiencies, for sustainable developments. Another salient part of this study is the implementation of more sustainable energy practices that supports the broader application of LCA in evaluating industrial environmental impacts. Furthermore, the results obtained in this work are in line with recent global climate change commitments and Oman's Vision 2040, in achieving cleaner energy sources to minimize environmental harm in the oil and gas sector.

Solar mini-grids are a cost-effective and efficient method of improving energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in low-income communities. However, conventional battery storage systems have reduced the affordability of solar mini-grid-generated electricity, necessitating the development of alternative energy storage systems such as pumped hydro storage to replace lithium-ion batteries. This paper introduces a model for an SMS-based fluid parameter monitoring system to provide visibility of reservoir conditions during peak and off-peak periods. The model uses hardware such as voltage regulators, sensors, microcontrollers, and C- programming language software. Sensors monitor various parameters in the reservoir and penstock, transmitting signals to a microcontroller for analysis. The results are relayed to a display unit and personnel's mobile phones for alert notifications, ensuring precise and accurate reporting. Simulation results show the reliability of the design to monitor water levels, water temperature, flow rate, and transmission through SMS to mobile devices for timely reporting. The paper recommends the development and commercialization of this model for larger applications, such as monitoring dams for irrigation and power generation.

This paper focuses on the prospects of small hydropower plants (SHP) in Nigeria and utilizes ArcGIS software for analyzing the country’s hydropower energy potential. The analysis conducted using ArcGIS reveals the significant SHP potential in various states across Nigeria. By overlaying water areas and waterline data on maps, potential sites for SHP are identified, particularly in states such as Borno, Niger, Edo, Anambra, and Jigawa. Further analysis was done using data for water lines in Nigeria converted into shaped files for the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, with the various states and local government areas, to provide expanded views for different possible schemes for SHP. Data set were built up for the different geopolitical zones and statistical analyses were done for SHP potentials. Interpolations were performed using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) tool on ArcGIS to show areas ideally suitable to site dam schemes for hydropower production and other schemes that require less water storage for small hydropower production. The strengths of each state in the various zones with regard to water inlands and lands subject to inundation were also identified. Some major challenges and opportunities in using ArcGIS in assessing small hydropower schemes in Nigeria, were also highlighted.

Nigeria is purely an agrarian nation and the people depend on agriculture for survival. One of the missing links to wealth creation in Nigeria is lack of economic exploitation of abundant agricultural wastes. Instead of wealth creation, rice husk has become a serious threat to the environment. The unutilized rice husks in rice mills in Nigeria generate millions of tons of C02 when burnt. This increases environmental degradation and deaths associated with respiratory diseases. The sustainable use of this rice husk for bioenergy applications such as electricity generation at low cost, to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is imperative. In this paper, an off-grid gasification power supply option for Adani, in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu state, of eastern Nigeria is presented. A detailed load assessment and availability of rice husk for power generation in the study area was conducted. This information was used to design the gasification system. The gasification system was designed based on the mass flow rate of producer gas required to power the gas engine at full load. The gasifier was designed downdraft with air and steam as the oxidizing agent, in order to maintain uniform temperature in the oxidation and reduction zones. Furthermore, techno-economic analysis approach was used to determine the economic viability of the designed power system considered in this study. The estimated total load demand of the study area is 850.054kW. The estimated total daily, monthly and yearly energy demands of the study area are: 8,991 ​kWh, 269,736.42 ​kWh and 3,236,837.04 ​kWh. The annual availability of rice husk in the study area is 3,636t/y and it has potential of 1.52MW power generation with daily, monthly and yearly energy generation of: 36.48 ​MWh, 1,094.4 ​MWh and 13,132.8 ​MWh. This potential of electricity generation has power station capacity of 1.9 MVA, which is approximately equal to 2 MVA. The Levelized Cost of Electricity of the designed power system is 3.6 Naira/kWh, which is cheaper than 30.93 Naira/kWh tariff bill by Enugu Electricity Distribution Company to its R2S customers. Based on the proposed rice husk gasification system, a community could generate power to meet their electricity demand in most economical way, thereby reducing emission, waste and saving cost translating to sustainable development.