Dynamic Modeling of Energy Consumption Pattern of

a Typical Nigerian Average Urban and Rural

Household for Microgrid PV Design
Ye-Obong Udoakah, Emmanuel Mudaheranwa and Liana Cipcigan
Center for Integrated Renewable Energy Generation and Supply
School of Engineering
Cardiff University
Cardiff, Uk
Udoakahyn1@cardiff.ac.uk, Mudaheranwae@cardiff.ac.uk, Cipciganlm@cardiff.ac.uk

Abstract—The knowledge of consumer electricity consumption The emergence of smart grids with enhanced data
is essential for the design of smart grid integration strategies and communication capabilities which hitherto was not part of the
distributed generation. In recent times, the total energy traditional grid, has propelled DR to be an essential part of
consumption in the residential sector has continued to increase the next generation power distribution system. This without
resulting from economic expansions, population and floor area doubts has introduced many challenges in the distribution
growth which is an indication of a consistently increasing
network as most traditional grids were not designed to
demand. Energy independence as part of the solution to energy
efficiency has become a pressing issue for today’s society. Using accommodate distributed energy resources. However, such
AutoCAD software alongside with an Excel spreadsheet, the upgrade will culminate into new capabilities that will increase
average-demand, load factor, demand-factor and unit power the efficiency, reliability, interoperability, and security of the
density of the designed building were computed for an average electric system.
urban and rural household. The hourly load profile of the The international Energy Agency (IEA) energy efficiency
building and percentage energy usage across both locations for 2018 report [4] indicates that globally, after about two years
the various seasons were determined. Lastly, a comparative of low growth, the energy demand grew by 2% in 2017, while
performance of LED and Incandescent Lighting schemes were the global energy intensity dropped by 1.7% which was
examined. It is hoped that the results of this study would help
observed to be the smallest annual improvement in ten years.
the decisions of the residential energy users.
On the whole, the progress was attributed to the ongoing
Index Terms—Electricity Consumption, Energy Efficiency, global energy efficiency campaign. For instance, the report
Lighting Schemes, Load Profile, Smart grid noted that since 2000, resulting from improvements in energy
efficiency in the world’s major economies, more than one-
I. INTRODUCTION third of the increase in energy-using activities had been
The central role of energy in the accomplishments of most reduced. Clearly, the milestone so far achieved is indicative
of the sustainable developments goals can never be over- of the fact that energy efficiency is capable of delivering
emphasized. Specifically, residential energy which represents economic, environmental and social benefits if effective
about 35% of global energy use according to [1], [2] plays an energy efficient measures are holistically implemented across
important role in the achievement of sustainable development all sectors.
and providing affordable and clean energy remains one of the The highlights from the report observed two important
most challenging tasks for governments and policy makers trends. Firstly, the energy use in the buildings sector
around the world today. continued to grow as expected, resulting from economic
The sustainability of any smart microgrid design is expansions, population and floor area growth. Secondly,
anchored on energy efficiency consideration. Hence, the first remarkable energy savings was achieved resulting from
step in the design of any smart PV microgrid system is effective energy efficient buildings and appliances. On the
carrying out a critical load evaluation [3]. Achieving the contrary, the report observed that energy use in the building
highest level of energy efficiency by the implementation of sector would have been 12% higher in 2017 if considerations
various control strategies alongside Demand Response (DR) were not given to energy efficiency improvements. From the
schemes has continued to dominate the front burner of most statistics, it was seen that between 2000 and 2017, the final
energy researches. energy use in buildings and appliances increased by 21% to
reach 120 exajoule (EJ), resulting in an energy savings of 14 demand of an average household using a solar PV system, [9]
EJ [4]. proposed the use partitioning approach based on the scalable
The global energy efficiency improvements outlook level of importance to quality of life. Using a typical medium
appears to be significant, unfortunately, this outlook may not income house as a case study, different analysis was
be so impressive when country specific scenarios are performed based on the level of quality of life that can be
considered. For instance a recent electricity consumers’ afforded by different users. The result revealed that the life
energy efficiency awareness evaluation research carried out cycle cost over a period of 20 years, of solar energy system
in some parts of Nigeria indicated that the use of for level 1 (Lighting only) which has the highest impact on
incandescent lamps in residential buildings were still very the quality of life of Nigerian is $10,600.
prevalent even among households with high literacy level. III. DESIGN MODEL
The research further revealed that even when customers
asserted to the knowledge of energy efficient devices and its According to [10], the modeling and analysis of a power
advantages, a sizeable percentage still did not subscribe to system depends upon the load which is always changing. In
using them [5]. order to understand the changing load pattern, an evaluation
In view of the important milestone so far achieved in of an individual customer load is inevitable. Determining the
energy savings at the global scale resulting from the use of load of any customer cannot be done in space, therefore a
energy efficient technology and the need to replicate same at building design or layout is required. Using AutoCAD design
the local levels that this research is carried out. The objective software, the model of a typical average residential building
of this study is to model the energy use pattern for a typical in Nigeria was developed as shown in Figure 1. Loads are
urban and rural household in Nigeria taking into estimated either through measurements in real time using
consideration the seasonal variations. The study also aims to energy monitoring system or estimated based on expected
determine the building unit power density and perform an load ratings resulting from the user’s knowledge of daily
economic analysis of the different lighting schemes for building activities. Using an Excel Spreadsheet, the various
optimum energy efficiency. Specifically, the results of the electric energy consumed by the loads from each room in the
model would be used for future smart PV localized building design layout and the duration of usage were
sustainable microgrid energy system designs which would estimated. Based on the estimates, the daily kilowatt-hours
enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. (kWh) consumption for both the urban and rural residence for
the dry and rainy seasons respectively was estimated. Also,
using the hourly load curve developed from the model, the
II. LITERATURE REVIEW maximum demand and the time of occurrence was
With respect to Nigeria, several studies have been carried determined for both locations and seasons. The average
out with regards to energy consumption pattern. For instance, demand, load factor, demand factor and unit power density of
using a stratified three-stage random sampling technique, an building were computed using equations 1 to 4. The
assessment of the domestic load demand of rural areas in percentage of energy use of each appliance was determined
southwestern Nigeria was performed by [6]. The four villages and the techno-economic analysis of the two lighting schemes
were randomly selected and the result shows that for basic (Incandescent bulbs and Light Emitting Diodes (LED) bulbs)
power requirements, households in Nigeria would require was performed. The total area of the building from the
2324.5Wh/h or 850.8kWh/yr to meet their power demand. designed layout is 1,308.13 ft2.
Similarly, [7] investigated the energy utilization pattern of
Nigeria for possible areas of conservation in the major Average Demand = 1
economic sectors. The outcome of the study revealed six
major areas through which conservation measures could
enhance energy savings. The residential building noted for Load Factor = 2
the dominant use of incandescent bulb which is energy
intensive was listed as one of sectors where energy Demand Factor = 3
conservation could be achieved. The study concluded that
there was potential for significant energy savings if Nigerians
replaced their incandescent bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. Unit Power Density = 4
The energy consumption end use of some selected residential
buildings in Northern Nigeria was conducted by [8]. The Energy Consume = 5
study assessed the energy usage and intensity of buildings as-
built and when retrofitted with green features. Resulting from Energy Cost = 6
the analysis of variance carried out at 0.05%, it was observed where 𝞴 represents the kWh rate of electric energy. The
that there was a significant difference in the energy current cost per kWh of electricity in Nigeria is ₦26.41
consumption of both buildings. Based on the results, the ($0.073) using the prevailing exchange rate of US$1 = ₦ 362.
annual energy intensity of both buildings were determined
and compared with that of the green features showing
significant energy savings. In order to meet the basic energy
 2.5
Incandescent LED

Kilowatt-hours
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Hours

Figure 4. Estimated rural daily kilowatt-hour consumed by incandescent

and LED lighting in the building on dry season day.

2.5 INCANDESCENT
LED

Kilowatt-hours
2
1.5

Figure 1. Layout of a typical average residential building in Nigeria 1

0.5
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 0
The daily kWh consumption of the two lighting schemes is
shown in Figure 2 to 5, while the daily kWh consumption of Hours

the whole house with the different lighting schemes is Figure 5. Estimated rural daily kilowatt-hour consumed by incandescent
and LED lighting in the building on rainy season day.
presented in Figures 6 to 9.

3 20
Incandescent
Kilowatt-hours

LED Total load with incandescent

2 15 Total load with LED
Kilowatt-hours

10
1
5
0
0

Hours
Hours
Figure 2. Estimated urban daily kilowatt-hour consumed by incandescent
Figure 6. Estimated urban kilowatt-hours consumed by the entire house on
and LED lighting in the building on dry season day.
a dry season day with both lighting schemes

3 20
Total load with incandescent
Incandescent LED
Kilowatt-hours

15 Total load with LED

Kilowatt-hours

2
10
1
5
0 0

Hours Hours

Figure 3. Estimated urban daily kilowatt-hour consumed by incandescent Figure 7. Estimated urban kilowatt-hours consumed by the entire house on
and LED lighting in the building on rainy season day. a rainy season day with both lighting schemes
 4 10.37kWh respectively. Using these values, the average
demand of the building, the load factor, the demand factor,
Kilowatt-hours
Total load with incandescent
Total load with LED the unit power density and the percentage lighting energy use
2 for a Dry and Rainy season day using incandescent and LED
lighting for urban and rural household were computed and
presented in Tables 1 to 5 respectively.
0
TABLE 1: BUILDING AVERAGE DEMAND
Hours
Urban Dry Urban Rainy Rural Dry Rural Rainy
Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED
Figure 8. Estimated rural kilowatt-hours consumed by the entire house on a (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW)
dry season day with both lighting schemes 4.54 3.97 3.72 3.09 0.90 0.40 1.03 0.43

3 TABLE 2: BUILDING LOAD FACTOR

Total load with incandescent
Kilowatt-hours

Total load with LED

2 Urban Dry Urban Rainy Rural Dry Rural Rainy
Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED
1
0.29 0.28 0.25 0.24 0.32 0.33 0.38 0.48
0
TABLE 3: BUILDING DEMAND FACTOR

Hours Urban Dry Urban Rainy Rural Dry Rural Rainy

Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED
Figure 9. Estimated rural kilowatt-hours consumed by the entire house on a
rainy season day with both lighting schemes 0.77 0.76 0.72 0.71 0.80 0.60 0.77 0.54

The power consumption of each load is estimated based TABLE 4: BUILDING UNIT POWER DENSITY
on the rated wattages. The estimated power consumptions are
used, along with estimated times of operation to calculate the Urban Dry Urban Rainy Rural Dry Rural Rainy
kilowatt-hours of energy used by each load. The external Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED
lighting elements are assumed to be 100 & 40 Watts while (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2) (W/ft2)
internal lighting elements are assumed to be 60 & 11 watts 3.47 3.04 2.85 2.36 0.82 0.36 0.93 0.39
for incandescent and LED bulbs respectively. Only essential
loads are considered in this study. TABLE 5: BUILDING PERCENTAGE LIGHTING ENERGY USAGE

Urban Dry Urban Rainy Rural Dry Rural Rainy

The daily energy consumption of the building is estimated
Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED Incand. LED
for urban and rural household for both rainy and dry season (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
day respectively. The lighting energy consumption using 18.49 6.90 25.66 10.31 85.00 65.70 87.85 71.00
Incandescent and LED bulbs for both locations is presented in
Figures 2 to 5. The total energy consumption of the building Energy consumption, savings and cost resulting from the
represented in hourly time series for 24 hours for both use of incandescent lamps and LED bulbs are estimated and
locations and seasons is shown in Figures 6 to 9. The compared. For the lighting energy cost determination, it is
calculated energy values are then used to find the efficiency assumed that both the 60W incandescent bulbs and 11W LED
of the building electrical loads in terms of lumens provided bulbs are powered using electricity supply from the grid. To
per watt and watts per square foot of building area. A normal determine the energy cost, equation 6 is applied. Only the
daily energy usage is assumed with constant power supply. rainy season day of both locations was chosen for this
The estimated peak load of the building would be used in analysis because of the extended duration of lighting usage.
future research to size a PV plant generation requirements of The energy cost is presented in Table 6.
the model building.
TABLE 6: ENERGY COST RESULTS
Based on the assumed power consumption by all
appliances, utilities and lighting elements of the building the Urban Rainy Daily Energy Cost Rural Rainy Daily Energy Cost
Incandescent LED Incandescent LED
total number of kilowatt-hours used on a Dry season day
Lighting Lighting Lighting Lighting
using incandescent and LED lighting for urban and rural (#) (#) (#) (#)
household is 108.90kWh, 95.33kWh, 21.67kWh and
9.48kWh respectively. Similarly, the energy used on a rainy
season day using incandescent and LED lighting for urban 605.85 201.77 573.63 194.43
($1.67) ($0.56) ($1.58) ($0.54)
and rural household is 89.39kWh, 74.09kWh, 24.73kWh, and
 To calculate the payback time of any investment, the V. CONCLUSION
expenditure over the project duration must be examined. In The role of energy efficiency and savings in the
this case, the life span of incandescent and LED bulbs. For achievement of the sustainable development goals cannot be
both bulbs, it is assumed that the elements/components would overemphasized. Residential energy use plays a key role in
function without defects throughout their respective hour life the global energy-related environmental problems. From the
period which is about 12,000 (4 years) and about 50,000 (17 analysis, it is clear that the percentage of energy used for
years) assuming 8 hours of usage per day for incandescent lighting was significantly high especially in the rural
and LED bulbs respectively. household model and the use of LED bulbs for lighting
greatly reduced both the energy cost and improve energy
For the 11W LED, the payback time is calculated thus: in efficiency. Resulting from the analysis of both lighting
its 50,000 – hour life an 11W LED will consume 546.04 kWh schemes, the simple return on investment indicates that using
from equation 5. Using equation 6, the energy cost for the LED bulbs although having an initial higher acquisition cost,
LED = ₦14,421 ($40). Adding the unit cost of an LED bulb can quickly break even due to its lower energy consumption
which is about ₦400 ($1.10) will result in a total cost over and long hour life. It is believed that the results of this study
50,000 hours of ₦14,821 ($41). would influence the decisions of energy users and policy
maker especially in developing countries as the study
For a 60W incandescent bulb, the payback time is concludes that incandescent lights are inefficient lighting
calculated using the same procedure. In its 12,000 - hour life, devices, and are responsible for more residential energy
the bulb will consume 700.8kWh and the energy cost will be consumption than is required for their desired output. The
₦18,508 ($51), for the first 12,000-hour life and ₦55,524 sizing of a PV system using this model and further
($153) for about 50,000-hour life. However, since each optimization of different residential housing models using
incandescent bulb lasts for about 12,000 hours, thus for over Smart Residential Load Simulator would be the focus of the
50,000 hours, besides the initial bulb, there may be a need to next research.
replace the bulb thrice at a unit cost of ₦100 ($0.28), which
adds up to ₦300 ($0.82), thus giving a total of ₦58,609 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
($162) when added to the energy cost and initial bulb cost of The authors gratefully acknowledge TETFund Nigeria for
₦100 ($0.28). Bulb cost is assumed in this study to be the sponsorship. We also appreciate the contributions of
constant throughout the 50,000-hour life. Inimfon-Abasi Okure for helping with the data collection.
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