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The
lingering energy crisis in Nigeria appears to have defied
all known solutions such that there seams to be loss of hope
by individuals and corporate organizations doing business
in the country with the telecom sector seamingly the most
hit. But there seams to be light in the tunnel with the availabilty
of a portfolio of renewable energy sources capable of putting
to an end, this hydra-headed monster called power failure.
ROMMY IMAH reports... |
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Nigeria's
blossoming telecommunications sector is obviously at the risk
of suffering a monumental set back if no proactive measure is
taken to tackle the monstrous issue of power, once and for all.
Telecom operators in Nigeria have consistently claimed that
poor quality of service experienced by telecom consumers in
recent times, was a by-product of unstable power supply in the
country.
At the inception of the current democratic dispensation in Nigeria
on May 29, 2007, President Umar Musa Yar'Adua said he was going
to declare an emergency in the country's energy sector. And
in keeping with that promise, the President in what looked like
the first step in addressing the lingering energy crisis in
the country, reserved the Energy Ministry for himself thus sending
signals that he is now poised for a wholesale fight against
the country's persisting energy crisis.
Dissatisfied with the country's hydropower output, the President
recently announced that his administration would go ahead with
plans to develop nuclear power for the purpose of generating
electricity in the country. "We need to develop the capacity
to utilize nuclear power for power generation. Who knows, nuclear
power may be the only source of energy in the future, and we
must think of the future".
President Yar'Adua instructed the Ministry of Science and Technology
to align national programmes for the deployment of nuclear power
for generation of electricity with the overall national policy
on power. The ministry is to also look at the regulatory framework,
especially options of funding, considering the huge financial
outlay, which it requires.
“We have to align your work with the national power policy,
taking cognizance of other sources of energy generation oil,
gas, hydro, wind and solar”, the President said.
Corroborating the President, Director-General of the Nigerian
Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Shamsudeen Elegaba, said with
a mere 3,000 megawatts of power being generated in the country,
nuclear energy for Nigeria has become a necessity adding that
since Nigeria will need about 30,000 megawatts of electricity
by 2015, it is high time the Federal Government got serious
with nuclear energy plan. |
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“I believe
that government will buy into this option because it is one
of the seven-point agenda of President Yar'Adua. To drive the
economy, you need electricity. You cannot run your factories
on pedal-driven energy sources. You will require more stable
source like nuclear”, Elegaba noted.The incurable energy
situation in Nigeria has no doubt gone out of proportion such
that the sector appears allergic to any prescribed
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| solution.
Neither the passion of the late Minister of Power and Steal,
Chief Bola Ige, nor the change of thesector's brand from National
Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to the Power Holding Company
of Nigeria (PHCN), could change the fortunes of the sector
for the better.
Only recently, the Special Adviser to
the President on Electric Power, Joseph Makoju has said that
Nigeria needed to generate 104,000 Megawatts to achieve an
equivalent of 800 watts per person.
Speaking in Abuja at the second Nigeria Economic Summit on
the Development of Infrastructure in the country, Makoju said
Nigeria with a population of 140 million generates 4.5 GW,
compared to South Africa with 40 million people, which generates
36 GW, and Egypt with 79 million that produces 23 GW.
The Adviser recalled that in the 1970s, Nigeria and Iran were
on the same power generation capacity but sadly, “today,
Iran with a population of 70 million has generation capacityof
42 GW, almost 10 times that of Nigeria's”
Yet, it remains incredible that even as Nigeria's electric
utility industry is unarguably the most capital intensive
in the world with the Federal Government said to have spent
a whopping N813 billion on electricity between 1999 and 2007
in addition to a massive N542 billion spent on the National
Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), electricity supply in the
country has remained everything but satisfactory. |
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No doubt government
has carried out series of reforms in the energy sector, what
is worrisome however, is its inability to achieve results. Apart
from business concerns with back-up solutions, private and public
firms in the country are closing shops by the day owing to erratic
power supply. And the economy has been the greatest victim.
A report by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
released in 2002 noted that 94 per cent of firms in Nigeria
single out infrastructure as their biggest hurdle to |
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growth.
Yet, 97 per cent of firms in the country have their own sources
of power generation outside of the public power supply. In the
early 1980s, the Federal Government of Nigeria was saidto have
estimated that the growth of power requirements in the country
would be in the order of 20 per cent per annum for the next
20 years. Perhaps, government then did not envisage the rapid
teledensity growth in the country especially in the post deregulation
era of Nigeria's telecoms sector.
At the inception of GSM services in Nigeria in 2001, operators'
expectations had been high that given the huge sums of money
they paid as license fees, government would play its own role
of providing the needed infrastructure, chief of which is energy.
But sadly enough, GSM operators and indeed, telecom operators
are still battling power challenges in Nigeria six years after.
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Only a couple
of weeks ago, telecom services in Nigeria took a turn for the
worst such that communications regulator, the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) had to organize a public forum to look at issues
bothering on quality of service. At the end, the Commission
announced plans to set up a Quality of Service Monitoring Group.
According to Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice Chairman of
the NCC, “the monitoring group will take whatever solutions
to the underlying problems responsible for poor quality of service
to the |
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government
if it concerns the government and the ones they think managing
directors of affected companies should address would be taken
to them for solutions.
”While
identifying six key issues highlighted at the event, Ndukwe
noted that power was top on the agenda as it ran across all
the presentations. He had sometime last year told a Lagos-based
monthly that lack of reliable power supply remained the greatest
obstacle to quality telecom service in Nigeria. |
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In
an interview he granted this magazine recently, Engr. Gbenga
Adebayo, President of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication
Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) noted that power supply in Nigeria
in the past one year is worse than it had ever been in the recent
history of the country in terms of having negative effect on
service delivery.
Russell Southwood, chief executive officer of Balancing Act,
Africa's leading news publishing and consulting outfit noted
recently that Africa's mobile operators have achieved an enormous
amount in a very short period of time but observed that much
of what has been put in place is both costly to operate and
requires logistical operations that overcome almost impossible
obstacles.
“Many of these base stations are in urban areas and have
a power supply from the state energy utility. These only require
one diesel generator as a back-up source to cover the all-too-frequent
power outages found in most African countries. But beyond the
reach of the national power grid, the operator has to install
two diesel generators, allowing for continuous generator-provided
energy in the event of one generator failing.
“In addition, some sites are so far from the point where
diesel can be obtained that they require tanks to store up to
three months worth of fuel; in other words, at these base stations,
operators literally have money buried in the ground”,
Southwood said.
And taking Nigeria for example which requires an operator to
deploy thousands of base stations in order to provide quality
service, one begins to wonder the enormous cost involved in
providing these base stations and their back-up generators.
The question is whether these operators have turned themselves
into power generating firms.
Worried therefore, by the perennial energy problem in Nigeria,
followers of telecom development in the country are asking whether
there wouldn't be a permanent solution to this. Suggestions
are therefore, being put up for the consideration of renewable
energy sources in the country.
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In November
2004, the Council for Renewable Energy in Nigeria (CREN) was
born as fallout of the Energetic Solutions- an international
renewable energy conference held in Abuja, Nigeria. This conference
included representatives from Africa, the Americas and Europe,
and was a follow up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
and Bonn Renewables conference to address the Millennium Development
Goals and issues of energy and development. CREN according to
its mission statement promotes the appropriate use of renewable
energy technology in Nigeria and the reduction of greenhouse
gases through reduced consumption of fossil fuels. |
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The
body aims to bring together the professional sector, government
and civil servants, academics, associations, industry, financial
institutions and services, the non-profit sector and end-users
to act as a forum where they can work together for efficient,
appropriate renewable energy implementation and to develop a
comprehensive sustainable energy strategy for Nigeria.
No fewer than three conferences have been held in Nigeria between
February and April this year to address further the issue of
renewable energy as possible permanent solution to the country's
lingering energy crisis. There were the Ethanol and Biofuels
Conference held at the Shehu Yar' Adua Centre in Abuja; the
National Workshop/Exhibition on Environmentally Friendly Power
Alternatives, held at the Mega Hilton Hotel, Warri Delta State,
and the Solar Energy Conference, which also held in Abuja. |
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CREN
and other proponents of renewable energy options for sustained
growth of Nigeria's telecom sector are of the view that even
though different forms of renewable energy satisfy the requirements
at different scales, there certainly will be a positive knock-on
impact whereby an overall increase of energy assists in assuaging
energy poverty on the other scales. Towards this end, both small
and large-scale energy production |
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facilities
have to be considered.In what looked like a visionary step towards
establishing a paradigm shift to alternative power solutions,
the Federal Government had a couple of months ago, launched
the Nigerian Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP), which includes
short, medium and long-term targets, planned activities and
strategies for a comprehensive renewable energy development
strategy.
The successful implementation of this is expected to result
in the installation of 2,945 MW of wind, solar PV, solar thermal,
small-scale hydro and biomass by 2025, roughly equivalent to
the entire capacity used in Nigeria today. 50 per cent of Nigeria's
current energy consumption is said to be fuel wood.
The Federal Government has already commenced action on the implementation
of the Master Plan with a projection to generate at least 56MW
of electricity from Solar, Wind and Small hydropower facilities.
Already, the Energy Commission of Nigeria had declared that
this year is important for the renewable energy sector as it
will mark the test ground for achieving the short term targets
of the Master Plan. Nigeria's gross hydro electricity potential
is put at approximately 14,750MW, out of which 1,930MW (14%)
has been exploited.
Ghanem Nuseibeh in the book- ICT for Development: The Challenges
of meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Africa, posited
that about a third of Nigeria's electricity comes from hydro-power,
which is less than half the hydro power potential.
“Small-scale hydro power exploitation is under-utilized;
and this represents the most convenient and economic option
for addressing rising energy demands, particularly for the scattered
rural population of Nigeria. Large scale power availability
is best addressed through further exploitation of this form
of energy”, he argued.
Today, some of the renewable energy sources available in the
world include solar energy, Wind energy, Ocean energy (wave
and tidal power), Fusion, and biodiesel. Some of these alternatives
analysts argue, could be sources of reliable power supply for
telecom operators in Nigeria.
Perhaps, if there is one energy source that readily comes to
people's mind any time an alternative power source is mentioned,
it is solar energy. And because the African continent is located
between the tropics where the solar rays are said to be abundant,
the quest for solar as an alternative source of power is understandable.
Said to be the favourite source of future energy for many people
because of its unlimited nature (though still doubtful), solar
energy is today, being driven by advances in photovoltaic technology.
Photovoltaic (PV) systems are said to convert sunlight directly
to electricity, working any time the sun is shining. It however,
produces more electricity when the sunlight is intense.
In developing nations like Nigeria, this technology is reputed
to have made some significant contributions as alternative source
of power. In Nigeria for instance, solar energy is said to have
high potential especially in the northern part of the country.
The big problem however, is how to store significant amounts
of electricity when the Sun is not available to produce it.
Late last year, Ericsson in a tripartite arrangement with the
GSM Association and telecoms giant, MTN, began the production
of biofuels as alternative to diesel for powering base stations.
The plan too, was to replace fossil with sustainable biofuels
made from pumpkin, groundnut and palm nuts. In fact, reports
had it last year that the Swedish company had started test running
the technology in some parts of Lagos for MTN Nigeria.
The Lagos project was said to be the first time that the biofuels
technology would be used as an alternative power source for
radio base stations. Apart from boosting telecom services, the
project is expected to provide electricity to the teeming Nigerian
populace that are not connected to the national grid especially
when it is massively and commercially deployed. |
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Communications Head of Ericsson West Africa, Olabode Sowunmi
had hinted last year that Ericsson will establish a supply
chain that sources and then processes locally produced
raw materials into biofuels. “We will pilot the
solution in Nigeria, and then co-ordinate a multi-country,
multi-continent rollout”, he had said.
Environmentalists have been giving support to this
alternative energy source thus giving credence to the
position of those advocating for the technology as environment
friendly and as one of the solutions to the perennial
energy crisis in the country.
Wind energy, which is a technology that works by means
of wind passing over blades of a wind turbine and rotating
a hub, has already made a significant impact in the
energy needs of the United Kingdom. There are currently
over 60 operating wind farms in the UK, supplying enough
power for 250,000 homes each year, or about 0.3% of
total UK electricity consumption. Analysts argue that
Nigerian businesses stand to benefit from this option
if it is well implemented especially in the northern
part of Nigeria.
Nigeria is blessed with not just rivers but more importantly,
with ocean that runs semi-ring round it. Electricity
could be generated from energy sources like Wave and
Tide using the Atlantic Ocean around Lagos and Port
Harcourt.
It is no longer news that over-dependence on hydropower
has cost the country a great deal. Businesses have refused
to grow because of epileptic power supply in the country.
Some industry stakeholders who spoke to ICT Today were
united in saying that if properly explored, a paradigm
shift to renewable energy sources as energy dependent
for the country could perhaps, contribute to bringing
to an end, the lingering energy crisis in the country
that has paralyzed not only the economy but threatens
to scuttle the steady progress being made by the country
to meet with the demands of the United Nation's Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
Like Engr. Gbenga Adebayo lamented, “the energy
crisis in this country is abnormality, we must reject
it as a people. If we can solve the problem in telecom,
why can't we solve the problem in power? It is just
to have the willingness on the part of government to
create the enabling environment and to allow the private
investors to come in.”
But should this task be left on the hands of Government
alone or should there be a public-private partnership
or an all private synergy like in the case of GSMA,
Ericsson and MTN? These are some of the options for
Nigerian Telcos.
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| Some
Renewable Energy Sources Laid Bare |
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| Below
are some notable renewable sources of energy (though not
limited) that could easily replace the conventional power
source currently deployed by Nigerian . |
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Ocean
Energy
There are two types of energy that come from the Ocean-
the thermal energy from the sun's heat, and mechanical
energy from the tides and waves.
Oceans are generally believed to be covering more than
70% of the Earth's surface, making them the world's
largest solar collectors. The sun's heat warms the surface
water a lot more than the deep ocean water, and this
temperature difference creates thermal energy. Just
a small portion of the heat trapped in the ocean could
power the world. Ocean thermal energy is used for many
applications, including electricity generation. Ocean
mechanical energy is quite different from ocean thermal
energy. Even though the sun affects all ocean activity,
tides are driven primarily by the gravitational pull
of the moon, and waves are driven primarily by the winds.
As a result, tides and waves are intermittent sources
of energy, while ocean thermal energy is fairly constant.
Also, unlike thermal energy, the electricity conversion
of both tidal and wave energy usually involves mechanical
devices.
A dam is typically used to convert tidal energy into
electricity by forcing the water through turbines, activating
a generator. For wave energy conversion, there are three
basic systems: channel systems that funnel the waves
into reservoirs; float systems that drive hydraulic
pumps; and oscillating water column systems that use
the waves to compress air within a container.
The mechanical power created from these systems either
directly activates a generator or transfers to a working
fluid, water, or air, which then drives a turbine/generator.
Wind Power
Today, the windmill's modern equivalent - a wind turbine
- can use the wind's energy to generate electricity.
Wind turbines, like windmills, are mounted on a tower
to capture the most energy. At 100 feet (30 meters)
or more above ground, they can take advantage of the
faster and less turbulent wind.
Turbines catch the wind's energy with their propeller-like
blades. Usually, two or three blades are mounted on
a shaft to form a rotor. A blade acts much like an airplane
wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure
air forms on the downwind side of the blade. The combination
of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller,
and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity.
Wind turbines can be used as stand-alone applications,
or they can be connected to a utility power grid or
even combined with a photovoltaic (solar cell) system.
For utility-scale sources of wind energy, a large number
of wind turbines are usually built close together to
form awind plant. Several electricity providers today
use wind plants to supply power to their customers.
Stand-alone wind turbines are typically used for water
pumping or communications. However, homeowners, farmers,
and ranchers in windy areas can also use wind turbines
as a way to cut their electric bills.
Solar Energy
Solar energy technologies use the sun's energy and light
to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity, and
even cooling, for homes, businesses, and industry. There
are a variety of technologies that have been developed
to take advantage of solar energy. These include:
Photovoltaic (solar cell) Systems
Solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Solar cells are often used to power calculators and
watches. They are made of semiconducting materials similar
to those used in computer chips. When sunlight is absorbed
by these materials, the solar energy knocks electrons
loose from their atoms, allowing the electrons to flow
through the material to produce electricity. This process
of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage)
is called the photovoltaic (PV) effect.
Solar cells are typically combined into modules that
hold about 40 cells; a number of these modules are mounted
in PV arrays that can measure up to several meters on
a side. These flat-plate PV arrays can be mounted at
a fixed angle facing south, or they can be mounted on
a tracking device that follows the sun, allowing them
to capture the most sunlight over the course of a day.
Several connected PV arrays can provide enough power
for a household; for large electric utility or industrial
applications, hundreds of arrays can be interconnected
to form a single, large PV system.
Solar Electricty
Many power plants today use fossil fuels as a heat source
to boil water. The steam from the boiling water rotates
a large turbine, which activates a generator that produces
electricity. However, a new generation of power plants,
with concentrating solar power systems, uses the sun
as a heat source. There are three main types of concentrating
solar power systems: parabolic-trough, dish/engine,
and power tower.
Parabolic-trough systems concentrate the sun's energy
through long rectangular, curved (U-shaped) mirrors.
The mirrors are tilted toward the sun, focusing sunlight
on a pipe that runs down the center of the trough. This
heats the oil flowing through the pipe. The hot oil
then is used to boil water in a conventional steam generator
to produce electricity.
A dish/engine system uses a mirrored dish (similar to
a very large satellite dish). The dish-shaped surface
collects and concentrates the sun's heat onto a receiver,
which absorbs the heat and transfers it to fluid within
the engine. The heat causes the fluid to expand against
a piston or turbine to produce mechanical power. The
mechanical power is then used to run a generator or
alternator to produce electricity.
A power tower system uses a large field of mirrors to
concentrate sunlight onto the top of a tower, where
a receiver sits. This heats molten salt flowing through
the receiver. Then, the salt's heat is used to generate
electricity through a conventional steam generator.
Molten salt retains heat efficiently, so it can be stored
for days before being converted into electricity. That
means electricity can be produced on cloudy days or
even several hours after sunset.
Biofuels
The use of biomass energy has the potential
to greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Biomass
generates about the same amount of carbon dioxide as
fossil fuels, but every time a new plant grows, carbon
dioxide is actually removed from the atmosphere.
Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be
converted directly into liquid fuels - biofuels - for
transportation needs (cars, trucks, buses, airplanes,
and trains). The two most common types of biofuels are
ethanol and biodiesel.
Ethanol is an alcohol, the same found in beer and wine.
It is made by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrates
(starches, sugars, or celluloses) through a process
similar to brewing beer.
Biodiesel is made by combining alcohol (usually methanol)
with vegetable oil, animal fat, or recycled cooking
greases. It can be used as an additive to reduce vehicle
emissions (typically 20%) or in its pure form as a renewable
alternative fuel for diesel engines.
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Geothermal
Energy
Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It's clean
and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range
from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found
a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even
deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten
rock called magma.
Almost everywhere, the shallow ground or upper 10 feet
of the Earth's surface maintains a nearly constant temperature
between 50° and 60°F (10° and 16°C).
Geothermal heat pumps can tap into this resource to
heat and cool buildings. A geothermal heat pump system
consists of a heat pump, an air delivery system (ductwork),
and a heat exchanger-a system of pipes buried in the
shallow ground near the building. In the winter, the
heat pump removes heat from the heat exchanger and pumps
it into the indoor air delivery system. In the summer,
the process is reversed, and the heat pump moves heat
from the indoor air into the heat exchanger. The heat
removed from the indoor air during the summer can also
be used to provide a free source of hot water.
Geothermal Electricity
Most power plants need steam to generate electricity.
The steam rotates a turbine that activates a generator,
which produces electricity. Many power plants still
use fossil fuels to boil water for steam. Geothermal
power plants, however, use steam produced from reservoirs
of hot water found a couple of miles or more below the
Earth's surface. There are three types of geothermal
power plants: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle.
Dry steam power plants draw from underground resources
of steam. The steam is piped directly from underground
wells to the power plant, where it is directed into
a turbine/generator unit.
Flash steam power plants are the most common. They use
geothermal reservoirs of water with temperatures greater
than 360°F (182°C). This very hot water flows
up through wells in the ground under its own pressure.
As it flows upward, the pressure decreases and some
of the hot water boils into steam. The steam is then
separated from the water and used to power a turbine/generator.
Any leftover water and condensed steam are injected
back into the reservoir, making this a sustainable resource.
Binary cycle power plants operate on water at lower
temperatures of about 225°360°F (107°182°C).
These plants use the heat from the hot water to boil
a working fluid, usually an organic compound with a
low boiling point. The working fluid is vaporized in
a heat exchanger and used to turn a turbine. The water
is then injected back into the ground to be reheated.
The water and the working fluid are kept separated during
the whole process, so there are little or no air emissions.
Small-scale geothermal power plants (under 5 megawatts)
have the potential for widespread application in rural
areas, possibly even as distributed energy resources.
Distributed energy resources refer to a variety of small,
modular power-generating technologies that can be combined
to improve the operation of the electricity delivery
system. |
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