Energy Briefs
MARCEL Hochet, chief executive officer, Green Elec, has said that the federal government‘s 20,000 megawatts of electricity target is too small for the country. He said the government should rather focus on achieving 40,000Mw to meet its energy need.
Green Elec is a solar energy solution firm with offices in Nigeria and France. In an interview in Lagos, he urged the government to address the problems in the sector. He said gas, hydro and renewable energy are the most feasible sources of power generation, asking the government to leverage them for growth.
According to him, poor infrastructure had hindered past administrations’ plan to provide regular power supply. He added that the government should solve the problems in the sector to encourage growth. “The country’s population is growing at a geometrical progression of 3, 6, 10 and 14. By this, the population is growing faster than the available resources in Nigeria. Because of this problem, the government needs to harness potential in the country to stabilise power supply.”
Hochet said countries which boast of huge megawatts of electricity, combine gas, hydro, sun, wind and other sources of generating power to achieve growth. “France was able to generate its 65,000 mw by combining different methods of power generation. The same applies to South Africa, which generates 40,000Mw of power for its population of 45 million.
“But in Nigeria, we are finding it difficult to deliver 10,000Mw. The highest megawatts of electricity so far generated were 5,000 Mw. That was achieved in the first quarter of 2016. Nigeria should follow the footsteps of developed economies to achieve that goal.”
He said though solar and other renewable energy sources generate fewer megawatts of electricity, they help in boosting power supply. He said if the government was desirous of meeting energy needs of its people, it should explore opportunities at its disposal to achieve it.
— May 29, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT
Tags:
