Browsing by Author "Olugbemi, Akinbobola Olukayode"

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    Examining the Legal Compatibility and Regulation of Distributed Ledger Technology in Facilitating Decentralized Energy in Nigeria
    (2022-12-08) Olugbemi, Akinbobola Olukayode; Clements, Ryan; Van de Biezenbos, Kristen; Christian, Gideon
    Nigeria has a huge electricity access deficit that has plagued the country for long time. This deficit has been estimated to cut out about 43.5% of Nigerians from access to electricity. To solve this challenge, the government has tried out different solutions, albeit with the same results. The Nigerian electricity industry was privatized in 2005 after the Electric Power Sector Reform Act was passed, yet, the electricity grid and components, regulation remained centralized, with recurring electricity grid collapses, corruption issues, poor data retention and poorly planned and executed government policies towards solving the issues. With the privatization and continuing grid collapses, this thesis proposes the decentralization of the electricity industry in Nigeria. More importantly, this thesis proposes that for easy monitoring, and elimination of human manipulation (through the issues of corruption, non-payment for electricity services and the outright “forgetting” of obligations by parties), distributed ledger technology or blockchain should be integrated to the distributed generation process. The integration of blockchain into the process will provide for peer-to-peer electricity trading system, data storage, retention and distribution, renewable energy certificate verification, improve payment integration and allow real-time monitoring of electricity generated, distributed, used while allowing for accurate projections on energy use. This thesis considers the legal implications and impediments for this integration.