Techno-Economic Viability of Bioenergy Resources for Sustainable Mini–Grid Power Generation in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Given the lingering inadequate power problems, low clean energy access, and increasing energy cost, Biomass energy presents an opportunity for local energy solutions, especially for rural communities, farms, and agro-allied industries. Comprehensive data on biomass were obtained from various primary and secondary sources, and conservative estimates of the potential of the various bioenergy technologies and power generation technologies in Southwest Nigeria were made.  The commercial and technical viability of bioenergy resources was investigated using proven tools such as Techno–Economic Renewable Energy Viability Index (TEREVI), Techno–Economic Levelized Cost of Energy (TELCOE), Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and HOMER Software simulation Cost of Electricity (COE). Southwest Nigeria is found to have a bioenergy very conservative potential of 3.07 × 10^9 MWh, for non–food Dedicate Energy Crops (DEC); 1.21 X 10⁹m3 of biomethane or 6.64 X 10⁶MWH, for landfill gas (LFG) Waste – to – Energy (WtE) scheme; 2.1 X 10⁹m3 or 21.97 X 10⁶MWH of biogas methane. The viability assessment test result using various tools and evaluation models shows very highly competitive techno-economic feasibility of bioenergy technologies for sustainable commercial-scale off-grid distributed power generation in Southwest Nigeria with competitive indices of $0.014651/KWH TELCOE, 0.791839506 TEREVI, $0.014077/KWH LCOE, MATLAB Simulink value of $0.01862/kWh, and a HOMER COE value of $0.0127/KWH. The overall funding reveals that biomass is a great energy prospect for power generation in southwest Nigeria with a high score of 0.791 given a regional potential of 3.07X10⁹MWH, for non – food Dedicate Energy Crops (DEC); 1.21 X 10⁹m³ of biomethane or 6.64 X 10⁶MWH, for landfill gas WtE scheme; 2.1 X 10⁹m3 or 21.97 X 10⁶MWH of biogas methane, for animal wastes and so on.