Nigeria has large coal reserves for light

Coal for light

Diversification of the sources of fuel for power is a welcome development

For decades we kept talking about diversifying the country’s revenue base but, beyond the rhetoric, little was done in this direction. For a country that has been taught something and has learnt something, we should not have been caught off guard in the quagmire of another oil price slump. We had it in the 1980s in the Shehu Shagari years; we had it even shortly before the Obasanjo presidency in 1999 when oil sold at a rock-bottom $9. All successive governments did was to keep hoping for the best; which somewhat came and we soon relapsed into our business as usual. Diversification became once again a slogan rather than a programme of action.

But when we talk of diversification, it goes beyond the source/s of revenue generation. Part of the problem with this country is that in terms of ideas; we have a surfeit of them; our problem is in converting them. What I am saying is that many of us, including our leaders, past and present, have always been conversant with the aphorism that it is dangerous or unwise for one to put all his eggs in one basket. Why? Simply because once that basket has problem, the eggs will break. Again, as with crude oil, we have for long relied on thermal plants essentially for electricity generation.

It is however gratifying that the economic recession is now compelling us to look more in the direction of diversification properly so-called. But the diversification I am talking about is not the one we are familiar with; rather, it is as it pertains to electricity generation. Minister of Solid Minerals and Mining, Dr Kayode Fayemi, told the executive director of a non-governmental organisation, CSR-in-Action, Bekeme Masade, who led somer members of the group on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja, that Nigeria will soon be using coal as an alternative source of energy. Indeed, coal will supply about 30 per cent of the country’s power needs, according to the policy on energy needs set by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing under Babatunde Raji Fashola, its minister.

“We have dedicated that coal licences will only be awarded to those who want to generate electricity and we are collaborating with the FMPWH (Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing) on this.

“There are certain processes you need to fulfill. You need to have a licence for power generation before you acquire a licence for mining. Since the inception of this administration, no licence for coal has been awarded which is not for the purposes of power generation.

“So if you acquire a licence for mining coal, you have to also have that for power. Once the application is filed and it is not encumbered by any legal or existing holder of a licence, the licence is awarded, but it must be for power generation only. Quite a number of companies have applied directly either to us or to the FMPWH,” the minister told his guests.

This is a welcome development. Nigeria has large coal reserves, estimated at about two billion metric tons. What many of us have been saying is that the government should think out of the box to take the country out of its present economic doldrums. If the proposed idea  represents part of that process, we should support it. The fact is that our present concentration on thermal stations cannot take us to the Promised Land, with persistent gas shortages occasioned by avoidable and unavoidable factors. Ours is a country richly blessed with good weather. We have sunshine in abundance; which offers a good opportunity to tap greatly into solar energy. We have coal, which also plays a great role in the power sector in other places. We have areas that can support wind farms, etc.      

It is important to note that coal-fired power plants currently fuel 41 per cent of global electricity.Indeed, an estimate says electricity generation accounts for 43 per cent of all coal consumed in South Africa. As a matter of fact, many of that country’s coal-fired power stations are located close to a coal mine from where they are directly supplied with fuel. Thus, we have the Grootegeluko open cast mine on the Waterberg Coalfield in Limpopo (one of the largest in the country) which feeds the Matimba Power Station with about 14.6 million tons of coal a year through a conveyor system. The same mine is also contracted to supply the new Medupi Power Station. What South Africa has done is to apply the simple economic principle of locating the power plants near the source of fuel. The country generates about 34,000 megawatts.

Even China which accounts for 46 per cent of global coal production and 49 per cent of global consumption due to its large electric power requirements, fuels its economic growth with coal.

There is no doubt that coal is one of the most polluting ways to generate electricity, which explains why some regions like Europe have been trying hard in recent years to phase it out. But this is a case of different folks; different strokes. Those who have a case against coal to power our electricity plants here as a result of the challenge of pollution should ponder the amount of pollution from all kinds of generators that our people use to generate electricity privately whenever there is power outage.

For me, what is important is that we diversify our sources of fuel for power supply. It has become clear that we cannot continue to rely on gas due to the challenges we have been having, especially with militants in the Niger Delta. Even if as a short term measure before the government gets a firm grip of the situation, we need to look beyond gas for this purpose. This is much more so that we do not have full control over the weather to fully engage the hydro stations all year round. We are only able to maximise them during the rainy season.

The good news here is that even in spite of government, some people on their own; as well as government and private organisations are now popularising the solar option for electricity generation. Schools as well as hospitals in Lagos, for instance, are now experimenting with solar energy. Indeed, one cable television station that is also into estate business in partnership with a private concern has come up with the idea of powering its estates with solar energy. We also have many homes using inverters to power their electrical devices. The result will surely be amazing if more Nigerians key into some of these alternative sources of power generation and more people are able to bypass the problematic national grid.

Perhaps what the government can do is to support people that are providing these alternatives to the public power supply system however it deems fit. The truth is; we have lived with darkness for too long such that we should be hungry for light now, except we are saying that our nation is haven for darkness.

We should be firing from all cylinders if truly we are desirous of banishing darkness from the country. We should encourage wind farms where there is wind in abundance; solar power in places where/when there is a surfeit of sunshine; hydro power where it makes sense and thermal power stations where such best fit. This idea of one-cap-fits-all has not helped us with regard to electricity supply. Indeed, the idea of a national grid which can throw the entire nation into darkness simultaneously due to system collapse is no more in our national interest; that is if ever it was at any time in the past. Where we need to amend laws to achieve this, let that be done without further delay.

Our developmental efforts have been hampered for too long by lack of steady power supply. Even the projected 10,000MW by end of 2019 is a far cry from where we should be if we want to industrialise fast. We must encourage the government to lighten our darkness from wherever it can – be it from the moon, Mars or Jupiter. All we want is power; steady power supply.