Socio-Economic effects of renewable energy on rural communities: a case study of Danjawa village, Sokoto state, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined the socio-economic effects of renewable energy on rural community of Danjawa village of Sokoto state, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to forty-five randomly selected heads of households and in-depth interview was conducted for twelve women in the village. The results show improvement in education, access to water, commerce and health. Restriction on use of high voltage electrical appliances like refrigerator, heater etc is one of the constraints of the project. However, all the respondents indicated their willingness to contribute resources for the sustenance of the project. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that the project management should ask the villagers to contribute certain amount of money either weekly, monthly or annually for the sustenance of the project, the project management should also improve the capacity of wind and solar photovoltaic plant so that the beneficiaries can make use of other electrical appliances like refrigerator, water heater, electric iron, electric stove etc.