The Director-General, Energy Commission of Nigeria, Prof. Eli Bala, tells EVEREST AMAEFULE that Nigeria will soon start producing electricity from biomass waste
Your agency has been advocating renewable energy. What is the contribution of renewable energy to Nigeria's energy mix?
The contribution now is about 30 per cent. But the study we have conducted in the energy commission under our sustainable energy development activities with the International Atomic Energy Agency in projecting the demand and supply on energy for the nation indicates that by 2030, the contribution will be about 20 per cent. The reason is that the economy has to grow between now and 2030, especially with our vision that by 2020, we must be within the 20 largest economies in the world. The growth of the economy depends on how much energy is supplied within the economy. If we are to grow at 13 per cent, the total energy supply within the economy will have to grow. These percentages are ratios; renewable to total. The total energy supply is growing. So we are projecting that by 2030 in terms of electricity, renewable energy should contribute about 30 per cent. These include hydro, solar, biomass, and wind. These are the major sources of renewable energy.
The nation has been talking about tapping electricity from biomass and has not made headway; what is the problem?
Headway will certainly come. We have to start from somewhere. You have to initiate something. That is why the five megawatts rice-curb driven thermal plant in Ebonyi State under the auspices of UNIDO, in collaboration with Ebonyi State Government is a pilot plant. When that succeeds, and it is seen to go through, it will be replicated in other states. You know the Ministry of Agriculture is banning the importation of rice. So rice production in the country is going to grow. Biomass or waste from rice is going to increase in Niger, Adamawa, Gombe and Bauchi states and in all rice producing areas. So, the feedstock for such thermal power plants is going to be in abundance and you have these distributed power plants which will enable communities to increase their economic productive activities. This will reduce poverty in line with the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President. Change is what is required and that is what is coming to this country – positive change. Energy is essential for that.
Sun energy is much abundant but the nation is not making the best of it. Why?
The use of solar energy is growing. You are aware that people are using solar panels now more than before. You have solar street lights in many cities and even rural communities, enhancing their own security and providing them light in the night. Children can read. People can gather under a solar street light and perform economic activities. So, the use of solar energy is growing but at the end of the day, with investors coming in with very good tariffs that the Nigerian Electricity Commission has provided, especially in the northern parts where intensity is reasonable, we will begin to have solar farms producing electricity and fed into the grid. At the moment, the Ministry of Power is building a 10 megawatss wind farm in Katsina State.
The Ministry of Power recently inaugurated a committee to probe the frequent system collapse in the electricity industry. What is responsible for this high frequency?
The committee is to study the collapses. I don't think it is a probe. Let us wait for the committee which the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, set up. They will come up with the solution to the problem and we will know.
You have mentioned the targets set for renewable energy in the entire energy mix. What should be done to realise these targets?
We need to create incentives – fiscal incentives and financial incentives. In our reviewed renewable energy master plan, we provided some of the incentives and passed it on to Nigerian Investment Promotion Council who is helping us to process it. With good incentives, good feed-in tariffs (the incentives will include both financial and physical), people are empowered with developmental loans, you discover that they will acquire some of these renewable energy systems. I have said that they are capital intensive but if you have loans, you can buy panels and mount in your homes; you can own power. Also in alternative fuels, with incentives, people will begin to produce biofuels in this country. This is because the future is agriculture; it will lead to the creation of jobs and our petroleum resources will be conserved for future generations to use and also to earn income.
You are advocating that people should supply their own power. Do you think that model is good enough?
Of course, the grid power is the cheapest. Yes, it is the cheapest. But there are areas that it will take time before grid reaches them. Are they going to remain like that without modern energy services? The solar energy is available everywhere both in the cities where there are infrastructure and in the rural areas. So, all we need is the technology and the technology of solar PV is very mobile. It is very easy to deploy. So if you don't have alternative, why not supply yourself with modern energy services? We can do that when we create a financial facility where these people can access some funds to acquire these systems – lanterns, solar lanterns. They can light their homes with solar lanterns in the night and bring them out in the day to get them charged and they will have light in the night.
Are you satisfied with the contribution of the Energy Commission of Nigeria to the quest for improved power supply in the country?
The commission has done a lot, not only in power. Energy is not just about electricity. It includes electricity quite alright but it also includes fuel for transportation and process heat. Heat can be sourced from solar energy. You can have a solar collector that collects the sun and converts it to heat. Our contribution is that we have actually promoted these sustainable energy sources in this country. We have created a lot of advocacy. People are now very much aware of the alternatives before them. In addition to that, we have produced some planning documents for government in the energy sector as required from us by the law.
Does the nation have the capacity for renewable energy? What is being done to increase the capacity?
Human capacity needs to be grown and that is why the Energy Commission of Nigeria has six energy research centres that are university-based in order to develop the human capacity; both high and middle level manpower in energy development and diffusion. Also capacity is being built in other sectors. It might not only be by the commission but we advocate that capacity must be built. The Ministry of Power has a training institute. Ministry of Petroleum has a training institute. So capacities are being built not only from within but also from outside the country.
