If you would like to see more information on this case study, click here!
You can request this case study and a WCDE staff member will get back to you.
Case revision date:
2012-05-22
Length:
6 pages (Case Study)
Summary:
Nigeria is a western African country with a population of around 170 million. The nation has significant reserves of oil and natural gas resources. However, due to poor maintenance and a shortage of experienced operators, the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) of Nigeria is not able to provide the nation with electric power continuously throughout the day. This means that citizens must make their own arrangements to deal with the unreliable power supply. The large demand for electricity requires the nation to take action to ease the current electricity shortage situation. Due to deficiencies in the electrical distribution infrastructure and other pressing needs; it will take a long time for the whole country to be supplied with sufficient electricity for every household. Therefore, the households need to consider alternative solutions to supply electricity to their own household during a power outage.
Yetian Wang, a co-op student from University of Waterloo, was interested in the Nigerian power crisis and was motivated to research possible solutions that could resolve the current issues. He wrote an independent studies work report based on this investigation and provide suggestions for individual home owners on how they can overcome the issue of power shortage.
Learning objectives:
The objective of this case study is to illustrate the design process for students with real world application and using real data. Students are encouraged to open their mind and propose different solutions to those suggested in the solution modules. After the completion of the case study the student will be able to describe the general concepts and techniques of power generation distribution, describe the difference between various power generation devices, and demonstrate problem solving skills under constraint, such as cost.
Key words:
Needs Analysis; Electric Generators; Alternative Energy; Cost Analysis
CEAB attributes:
Problem Analysis; Investigation; Economics and Project Management
Modules:
Module 01 - Case Study
Module 02 – Needs Analysis (Restricted to educators only)
Module 03 – Conceptual Design (Restricted to educators only)
Module 04 – Alternative Solution (Restricted to educators only)
Module 05 – Analysis (Restricted to educators only)
