ELECTRICITY >> World Energy Day: Why Nigeria must improve access to power
Tuesday, October 22, was World Energy Day (WED). It is a day set aside to raise awareness on energy-related issues worldwide.
Although this energy awareness day was said to be first proclaimed on July 22, 2012, at the World Energy Forum, it remains highly relevant, especially in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa where access to electricity is abysmally low.
Official power sector records have it that Nigeria’s available generation capacity is 7,600 megawatts (MW), its transmission capacity is 8,100MW and the distribution networks can absorb 5,500MW. However, the estimated demand for energy is about 19,000MW. At the distribution level, there is a huge difference of 13,500MW in terms of what electricity consumers require and what may be available to supply them.
Worst still, several factors combine to hinder the realisation of this 5,500MW actual power supply capacity as the average power supply nationwide on daily basis has not exceeded 4,000MW in the last six months.
The WED calls to mind the need to plan energy access and strategies to improve the Nigerian power sector. It is estimated that about 45 per cent of Nigerians are still not connected to grid electricity, while majority of those who are connected do not have stable electricity. Hence there is over-reliance on the use of fossil fuel generators in major cities, towns and rural settlements.
Unfortunately, this comes at a high cost because while Nigeria is an oil producing state, it imports its petroleum products.
Reports by the Advisory Power Team at the Office of the Vice President show that between July and September, 2019, low gas supply, poor transmission and distribution networks and water level (for the hydropower plants) hindered the delivery of at least 12,039MW to households, industries and for other uses. In July, the grid inadequacies constrained 3,872MW of energy, 4,020MW was cut off in August, and that rose to 4,147MW by September.
The implication of this according to the report is the further loss of revenue in the power sector. Averagely, that quantum of energy should be sold for N177.1bn during the three-month period.
Worried over this, experts of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) in commemoration of WED analysed how this poor electricity supply conundrum retards economic growth of Nigeria.
Working under the theme: “Energy Sustainability in Africa: Unlocking the Energy and Climate Change Equation”, NAEE called for energy planning for Nigeria.
Although the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) plans for energy production and energy mix and has launched a 2050 Energy Calculator, Daily Trust reports that the lack of interagency cooperation for energyrelated is hampering the seamless implementation of this planning.
NAEE is an affiliate of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) that operates across over 70 countries.
President of NAEE, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, said the WED was a platform for NAEE members to engage with Nigerians and policy makers on how to harness the vast energy potentials of the country.
Prof. Omorogbe said NAEE was focused on ensuring that relevant stakeholders got energy to everyone in the urban, industrial and rural areas.
She said, “People in Nigeria don’t realise that practically every development issue can be traced to a lack of modem energy. You can’t get good teachers into village schools if these villages have no electricity or modern water systems driven by energy.”
Omorogbe further noted that Nigeria was using little or no modern energy for the use, whether fossil fuels, solar, or wind. However, the poor rural dwellers are thriving on biomass and cutting down trees for their energy and thereby depleting carbon sinks.
She advocated for the need to utilise “our renewables”: hydro, solar, wind, especially for off grid communities to drive the sustainable energy discourse.
She added that, “Energy planning is vital for this to be a reality. Using technology strategically is also important but then we do not do research.”