Nigeria’s energy crisis: Consumers consider solar option

Thursday, May 3, 2018

By Adewale Sanyaolu

A recent report by Techpoint.ng, which quoted the Science and Education Publishing Journal disclosed that the Nigerian industrial sector barely utilised power supply from the national grid for a period of 28 years, adding that the case isn’t different today. ‘‘And as it turns out, their resort to self-generated electricity incurs high cost of production, which a report puts at N3.5 trillion per annum.”

Nigerians have continued to rely on hydro-powered electricity yet statistics show that less than 40 per cent of its populations is connected to the national grid, thus leaving about 60 per cent of Nigerians in darkness and without an alternative source of electricity.

According to worldometers.info, the Nigerian population is above 183 million and about 55 per cent of the population has no access to grid-connected electricity while access to electricity in the rural areas is about 35 per cent and about 55 per cent in urban areas.

It has been estimated that developing economies would need about 1,000mw per million people to meet their electricity demand. Invariably, Nigeria would require more than 160,000mw to achieve the desired electricity generation capacity.

Experts have equally highlighted the dangers of relying solely on hydro and fossil-powered electricity to include rising oil costs, environmental problems and possible disasters from thermal and nuclear power stations. They posited that a move towards more renewable energy, one which is cleaner and more environmentally friendly was necessary, arguing that the most efficient source of power would be solar which is abundant, consistent and reliable.

Photo courtesy of Ron Waddington.

Source: Sun News Nigeria (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Energy
Tags
off-grid energy, regulations, renewable energy