NIGERIA: A CASE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
By Evans Eguavoen
To paraphrase a document written by the Flemish Region of Belgium to promote and subsidise renewable energy, “everyday the sun gives us 10,000 times more energy than we need.” Just imagine that for a second. Then compare it with a cartoon of a man with his head in the ground looking for oil while the sun shines brightly above his head.
Of course we don’t have the ability to harness 100% of the sun’s energy. If we could just harness a fraction the sun’s energy, not only would the air become less polluted, the damage being done in the Niger Delta by oil producing companies would reduce.
Many people are only now becoming familiar with clean, renewable solar and wind energy. But as a matter of fact, as early as the start of the 20th century, the first cars were being powered by electricity. As more and more fossil fuel sources were discovered and they became easier to refine and mine, electricity lost ground as the main source of car fuel.
Today, many companies and nations are too invested in the fossil fuel business and stand to lose too much when petroleum becomes redundant due to the “rediscovery” of cheap renewable power. Some refer to hat time, which will come, though no-one knows when, as the time oil wells will become “stranded assets.” It’s therefore not difficult to understand why, apart from the likes of Total and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, most of those invested in the fossil fuel industry want nothing to do with clean, renewable solar and wind energy.
The high cost of solar energy, compared to nuclear and coal-powered energy, was one of the main arguments of its opponents. However, day by day, as time has gone by, the price of renewable energy has become competitive. Within the last 10 years, the cost has halved. The quality of the solar panels have improved as well. Another factor which counted against renewable energy, which still persists, is the fact that it can’t be stored and used when needed. Research is going on in this area as well. Tesla and other batteries, at the moment, are too expensive. In Germany and Holland, there are communities who have successfully converted car batteries for storage of renewable energy. On a small scale, though.
In addition to its ready availability and falling price, why is renewable energy the best option for Nigeria? Because it is the fuel of the future, compared to petroleum, which in time will become a “stranded asset.” Another reason is that we have virtually nothing to show for the billions of dollars invested in all our other sources of electricity to date.
Our old and inefficient national electricity grid is one reason. Here is one comparison: when the United States buy electricity from Canada, about 97% will arrive at it’s destination. In the case of Nigeria, it is about 30% less when power is sent from north to south or vice versa, due to the inefficient national grid.
It therefore makes no economic sense to be feeding more power to the grid. Upgrading the national grid to make it efficient will cost more billions of dollars and take lots of time. Which is why, German firm, Siemens, is looking to 2023-25 before we can speak of 10s of megawatts of electricity. In the 1970s, military governor of the then Mid-West State, Samuel Ogbemudia, set up a Rural Electricity Board (REB) to generate and distribute electricity to local communities. That was how many villages were electrified, without having to wait for the national grid.
Such local generation and distribution of electricity was one of the focal points of a December 2015 Nigerian Observer online article on Vice President Osinbajo’s vision for our electricity sector. As this would be less capital-intensive, individuals, small and medium-scale companies and communities could do it themselves. Renewables could play a big role here because, not only do they not pollute, solar panels need no maintenance as well. No changing of oil during their lifespan of some 25 years! You can also be sure that the community will take care of them because they are the owners. Imagine this: just one rotation of a windturbine will give a household enough electricity for a whole day.
Another good case for renewable energy in Nigeria is the economic one. There are jobs to be created if we play our cards right like Rwanda. When that central African country wanted to purchase computers for its schools, it reached an agreement with a South American company to assemble them in Rwanda, with the guarantee that the governement would order a certain amount yearly. By assembling the computers in the country, jobs were created for the citizens. Nigeria could do the same deal with a German, Chinese or American company. Knowledge will also be transferred.
