Master’s programme in Renewable and New Energy Systems drives change for energy access in Nigeria

The TEA-LP had the honour of connecting with Prof. Cosmas Anyanwu from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) to hear more about his cutting-edge research, their MSc programme and UNN’s involvement with the TEA-LP. UNN joined us in 2019 with the inclusion of two TEA-LP courses, Local Solutions for Energy Access and Mini-grids: Planning and Design into their highly successful Masters in Renewable and New Energy Systems (RNES) programme. This programme receives the highest number of applications every year within their centre.

The RNES programme’s main objective is to; “carry-out impactful education and research, aimed at tackling the power and energy delivery challenges in Sub Saharan Africa.” As Prof. Anyanwu explained, “The greatest energy challenge in Nigeria (and indeed most of West Africa) is the insufficient power supply from the grid arising from inadequate distribution infrastructure. Since energy access is as low as 55% in the country, there is also an opportunity to address the issue of distributed power supply by leveraging on the new skills acquired by TEA-LP trainees. Already, a number of TEA-LP graduates are working directly or indirectly with the rural electrification agency in Nigeria to build more mini-grids, either as entrepreneurs or employees of renewable energy companies.” 

This exciting era in energy access in Nigeria is supported through academics like Prof. Anyanwu. He has been a university lecturer since 2001 and is currently a full-time professor of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering and the Deputy Director of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Power and Energy Development (ACE-SPED) at UNN. Prof. Anyanwu explained that;

“My current research focus is mainly on cooking energy access, applications of renewable energy in agriculture (especially food processing), waste-to-energy research etc. In the field of energy access, I specialize in the design and testing of improved efficiency biomass cookstoves, having trained as a certified stove designer and tester in Aprovecho Research Centre Oregon, USA in 2013. I have supervised many postgraduate research projects in the field of renewable energy, specifically in the thematic areas of biofuels. I am also researching green hydrogen uptake in Africa.” 

The research on green hydrogen was commissioned by the German International Co-operation Agency (GIZ) and includes a comprehensive study on its uptake across Nigeria. Arising from the study, Prof. Anyanwu and his team have received much interest to commence Green Hydrogen production in Nigeria and they are currently carrying out Pre-Feasibility Studies for several companies.

He has also represented Nigeria in the ISO Technical Committee (TC 285) on cookstove standards since 2014 and served as Chairman of Nigeria’s Technical Committee on Clean Cookstoves 2014-2022. As the Deputy Director of ACE-SPED, as well as the Head of Department of Chemical Engineering at UNN he noted that; “These positions have brought additional responsibilities but also enabled me to enlarge my professional network through collaborations and joint research proposals with other institutions. Through these activities, my research perspectives have also broadened to include the area of Hydrogen research, climate change research and governance issues.” 

We asked Prof. Anyanwu what their journey with the TEA-LP looked like so far. In response he said, “Participating in the Transforming Energy Access – Learning Partnerships (TEA-LP) as co-ordinator has been very interesting. First, it has empowered us to impart knowledge on energy access to more students that we would have been able to do. Through the project, we have established new professional links with our colleagues in other parts of Africa, Asia, and South Pacific in ways that were not possible before. Our students now have more access to other experts in the field as well as to their peers in other countries for notes comparison.”  

Furthermore; “[T]he most beneficial part of being part of the TEA-LP is the fact that our students now have the opportunity to participate in several international training engagements organised by partners in the TEA network. Staff of our Centre also have greater access to more career-enriching opportunities through the network. Going forward, it would be very desirable if the project can allow us to admit and train more students beyond 2025, since the RNES programme in our Centre has now been customized with the inclusion of the TEA-LP courses.”

On reflection of their graduated cohorts, Prof. Anyanwu shared;
“Already, there is some good news from our Alumni: An Alumnus of the Centre (George Oluwaseun) is currently managing nine mini-grid sites in Sierra Leone, while another one (Mohamed Amidu Kallon) from Sierra Leone is working with a mini-grids development company in Nigeria. It is my firm belief that the TEA-LP project came at the right moment and could be a game-changer, if allowed to continue for a reasonable duration of time.” 

We look forward to following more stories from Prof. Anyanwu, the UNN team and their master’s graduates.

– Written by Andrea Fitzpatrick