A geospatial assessment of Nigeria’s agrivoltaic potential finds the greatest opportunities in the country’s northern regions, with abundant agricultural lands, high solar radiation and low access to electricity. It calculated that meeting projected solar energy demand in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states by mid-century could be achieved by installing agrivoltaics on less than 1.5% of cropland.
Some of Nigeria’s most populous states could meet future solar energy demand by using less than 1% of existing cropland for agricultural voltaics, according to new research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Indiana University and Cornell University in the United States conducted a national assessment of agricultural suitability and land use implications across Nigeria. Their findings are presented in the research paper “Geospatial Assessment of Agrivoltaic Opportunities and Land Use Requirements in Nigeria”, available in the journal Sscientific reports.
The team first mapped the land area covered by croplands in Nigeria, and then assessed the potential of solar energy within the croplands using a raster dataset from the Global Solar Atlas. They also calculated the aridity index of the areas, explaining in the research paper that the benefits of agrivoltaic energy tend to be greater in drier regions.
This work allowed the team to create a composite suitability index based on cropland size, average solar energy potential and average drought index, to identify promising locations for agricultural voltaic energy. They also calculated the land area that the agricultural voltaic sector would need to meet the projected expansion of solar energy capacity by 2050 in each state in Nigeria.
Rafael M. Almedia, assistant professor at Indiana University and corresponding author of the research paper, said pv magazine that while Nigeria has great opportunities for agrivoltaic energy, these opportunities are not evenly spread across the country.
The results from the research paper highlight Nigeria’s northern states, with abundant and water-poor agricultural lands, high solar radiation and low access to electricity, as areas with the greatest potential for agrivoltaic systems to generate co-benefits. “That overlap is important because in warm, water-poor areas, partial shade from solar panels can often reduce heat and evaporation stress on crops,” Almedia explains.
Southern Nigeria, including the area where the country’s capital Lagos is located, showed lower suitability for agrivoltaic energy, which the research report attributes to its moist forest cover, weaker solar potential and relatively sparse arable land.
Almedia added that in the northern states of Kano and Katsina, two of Nigeria’s three most populous states, results suggested that future solar energy demand could be met by using less than 1% of existing cropland for agrivoltaic energy. In contrast, Nigeria’s southern states would require much larger portions of existing cropland, between 5.9% and 18.9%, for agricultural voltaics to fully meet projected 2050 solar energy targets.
“That’s striking, especially since northern states are generally more energy poor, and many of the same high-potential areas still lack reliable electricity,” Almedia explains. “Agrivoltaics could therefore be particularly valuable, not only as a land-saving solar energy strategy, but also as a decentralized energy option for communities that are currently underserved.”
Almedia said the study results can help researchers, developers and decision makers identify promising areas for pilot projects and more detailed feasibility studies.
“The next step is to combine this spatial analysis with local information on crops, land ownership, farmers’ needs, access to the electricity grid, water availability and project economics,” he said. pv magazine. “Field studies to assess how locally relevant crops respond to agrivoltaic systems would also be important, as reliance on models developed for different climates and soil types may not translate perfectly to Nigerian conditions.”
The research paper adds that decentralized solar energy is expected to play a major role in Nigeria’s growing renewable energy sector, pointing to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that off-grid solar could add an additional 75 GW to Nigeria’s energy sector by 2050. It is also said that agrivoltaic energy could promote community ownership of energy systems in Nigeria, promote rural development and support progress towards multiple sustainable development goals.
Almedia suggested that the expansion of agrivoltaic energy in Nigeria could benefit from demonstration projects on working farms, incentives that reduce upfront costs for farmers and rural communities, and policies that recognize agrivoltaic energy as both an energy and agricultural strategy. “It will also be important to connect solar developers early with farmers and local communities so that projects respond to local needs and deliver benefits beyond electricity generation,” he concluded.
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