Off-Grid Will Solve Nigeria’s Electricity Crises –Powergas

Off–grid and mini-grid solutions have been recommended as the most efficient way to solve Nigeria’s electricity crises in the short term

Director of Sales and Strategy, for Powergas Nigeria, a leading Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) company, Mr. Sumeet Singh, gave the recommendation at the just concluded 21st Annual Africa Business Conference with the theme -“Lighting Up Africa – The Broken Energy Chain” held at the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.

Singh, who was a panellist disclosed that other panel members sought to find answers to critical questions on why Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has failed to provide adequate access to basic needs like Electricity, which is very critical for industrialisation and economic development.

He said the panel also held discussions on related subjects such as ‘‘Africa’s Private Sector’s contribution with innovative solutions to balance the supply-demand gap in electricity sector’’ and “Can cleaner/renewable based mini-grids leapfrog the traditional large-scale power plants in Nigeria?’.

 Sumeet stressed the importance of innovative technology in improving the lives of people in Africa and creating safer environment on the continent.

‘‘One of the main challenges in the electricity supply value chain is the infrastructural-gap, be it efficient transmission, last-mile distribution, fair-metering or the Natural Gas Pipeline Network. While all these issues are being addressed at various levels, with different pace of development, the efforts don’t seem to be delivering required results in the short to medium term.

  Quite a few of these gaps can be addressed by solutions like CNG/LNG under the “Gas on Wheels” Model and off-grid/Captive and mini-grid power solutions to Industries and remote communities. These off-grid solutions based on CNG fired Gas Generator and solar/renewable are ideal solutions providing reliable, affordable and clean energy solutions to not just survive, but to thrive in this economy.’’

He maintained that, there are immense potentials in the energy sector, especially through natural gas, much of which is flared at various flare sites in the country.

This situation, he said, will change over time with Government initiatives such as Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Program (NGFCP).

According to him,If Nigeria’s flared gas is captured and processed, it would significantly boost the power generation capabilities to double the current capacity, while significantly improving the quality of the air people breathe.

Highlighting landmark projects embarked upon by Powergas Nigeria in fixing part of the broken energy value chain in Nigeria, Sumeet said effective utilization of Natural Gas is also extremely important for imports substitution of liquid fuel such as AGO (Diesel) and PMS (Petrol) among others.

Source: The Sun