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ABSTRACT
Nigeria as of today generates less than 4000MW of electricity but has the capability of increasing her generation through small hydropower (SHP) considering unharnessed potentials in the country. In other to increase the percentage contribution of hydroelectricity to the total energy mix and to extend electricity to rural and remote areas, considering the economic, social and environmental benefits, this paper presents verifiable data to show that generated power can be increased by over 80 percent if areas of SHP potentials in different states of the federation of Nigeria are properly harnessed.
KEYWORDS: Small hydro-power, potentials, harnessing, energy-mix
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria depends heavily on fossil fuel for electricity generation due to the vast deposits of crude oil and natural gas in the country. Notwithstanding the vast deposit of crude oil, Nigeria generates less than 4000MW of electricity with per capita consumption of 0.03kw (table I).This is the present situation despite the fact that the installed total capacity as far back as 1999 was put at 11,756MW (Oparaku, 2007).
In 2010, Ohunakin's study showed that hydropower was the only source of electrical power in Nigeria before the discovery of crude oil. The shift in attention to fossil fuels due to the vast deposit of fossil fuel in the country led to the decay in the hydropower sector development.
As a source of energy, the technology used in hydropower predates fossil fuels and (with more efficient design) continue to improve.
To date only about one quarter of the world's hydropower potential has been utilized, and experts note that it is currently impossible to develop every one of the remaining undeveloped resources because of the social and environmental problems of building large hydroelectric dams.
However, small-scale hydro projects which have the least social and environmental effect have continued to receive serious attention from many countries of the world including China, Italy, USA, etc.
China leads the world in small hydropower development, and has already developed some 58,000 smaller plants that provide in excess of 13,000MW capacity. Other countries seriously involved in the development of small hydro plants include France, Italy, the United States, and Sweden. Each of these countries has already developed over 1,200 small-scale hydro plants and each has plans for additions (Schwaller, 1996). The total installed...