Techno-Economic Analysis of NERC ’ s Feed-in-Tariff for Sustained Grid-Connected Renewable Power Supply : Case of 3 Selected Sites of Northern Nigeria

The study aimed at determining the technoeconomic viability of renewable energy mix for sustained power supply in 3 sites of Northern Nigeria. It investigated the viability of grid connected renewable power sources of PV standalone, Wind standalone and PV-Wind Hybrid systems. Three sites were selected to ascertain the feasibility of producing energy from renewable sources, while considering the prevailing regulations and feed-in tariff for renewable electricity in Nigeria as stipulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). NERC used the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) to determine the Feed-inTariff for power generation. The 24 years daily global solar radiations, maximum and minimum daily temperature data and wind speed data that were employed for this study were provided by the Nigeria Meteorological agency (NIMET), Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Optimised designs were developed for each location. The results showed that with the current real WACC stipulated in NERCs Regulations on Feed-in Tariff for Renewable Energy Sourced Electricity in Nigeria, the Wind standalone system was found to be most suitable for Katsina (North-west) and Ilorin (North-central), while the PV-Wind hybrid system only slightly improved the viability of harnessing the RE resources of solar PV and wind energy at a debt to equity ratio of 70 to 30%. However, if the WACC is improved such that the real WACC is reduced by 5%, all the three PV standalone power plants become viable, alongside all of the Wind standalone power plants in terms of Net Present Value and annual profits. Hence, this study reveals that with proper economic incentives, RE for grid generation can be profitable in Nigeria.