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Please Hold Candle Now

Started by Janwuya, July 04, 2007, 04:49:05 PM

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Janwuya

Yan'uwa please tell me, when can we ever enjoy steady power supply in this country. Every household is a potential Power Holding Company on its own now, generating its own electricity daily. The roar of electricity generators at night alone is enough to give us nightmares. We have become so use to it that it sounds no more than mosquitoes buzzing around, not to talk of the environmental pollution.

What baffles me is that our 'Excellencies' are oblivious of the fact that they can go into power generation without waiting for the Federal Government to decide on what to do. How much does it cost for the States to go into power generation? When would they ever start thinking like the present generation and free their mind. They need to have a meaningful developmental plan in place. Please tell me what you think.

Dan-Borno

Janwuya, wallahi ka sosa min inda yake min
kaikayi.  And the worst thing is, after keeping
us in darkness for 23 hrs out of 24 hrs, they
come with their bill immediately the month ends.

Generating set is now a very lucrative business
in this country, from a reliable source, i gathered
that those in this type of business get between
200 - 300% profit, imagine the level of sales
and demand.  And this generating sets are
manufactured at a very low standard quality, yet
the SON certified it as meeting International
Standard.  Who is fooling who?

Wadannan gwamnonin kuma, especially namu from
the north are irresponsible and have no humane at
all.  Anything that a common man will benefit, their
eye no dey there.

Allah ya kyauta.
"My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for" - Tupak

HUSNAA

#2
The way forward in terms of electricityy generation is I believe using solar energy. Now solar energy generation is not cheap. Someone was telling me some statistics about it which seems not to make it feasible at the moment, although I cant remember a thing about it now. However, it is the only way forward. The reason why it looks impossible for us at this  moment in time is because we lack the technology to make the solar panels and shortage of refined silicon is obstructing production the world over. However, you know what? If solar energy were the only alternative  remaining in the countries that invest heavily in research and development, they would have come up with a viable alternative to refined silicon just like what is happening now with the new generation of computers which will have plastic diodes which according to Ohio University researchers will one day lead to plastic computer memory and plastic logic circuits on computer chips. At the moment computer chips use  inorganic silicon. So u c its a problem of silicon which in other areas alternatives are being sought.
What I am trying to get at here is that since we in Africa, have abundant sunshine Alhamdulillahi we should heavily invest in research in iways that should make solar energy a lot cheaper. We must team up with some foreign industry or research centres or something like that. Imagine all the billions that nigeria got in the last 8 yrs, if we had put half of that up in trying to get feasible alternatives, dont u think we could have got something today 8yrs later? After all its only money that talks. If u have it, almost anything is possible bi Iznillah.

Generating hydro electricity is not the answer anymore simply cos the water is not there, and even if it is contained in reservoirs, excessive evaporation would reduce these reservoirs besides all the negative environmental impacts attached to damming rivers and so on. As for nuclear energy...for african countries... that has another name... road to disaster... where would we get rid of all the hazardous waste? and how could we ensure non leakage into the environment of such dangerous stuff and in any case do we have any body who is skilled in nuclear energy management... All the ppl that read something on nuclear and atomic physics are in their sixties now. Certainly not the right candidates for any dynamism. Yet these are the same ppl that are being called upon to do something about nuclear energy in Nigeria. And anyway, all of them have never had any hands on interaction with their discpline as they ended up being administrators.......... ???
Ghafurallahi lana wa lakum

Janwuya

We pay our NEPA bills regularly with NO OUTSTANDING but if we delay payment within a month by a few days they will just rush down and disconnect us ba mutunci...kuma haka ne Dan-Borno we do not have have standard in this country. It's terrible and it's true, we certainly cannot manage nuclear power generation least we have another Chernobyl in Nigeria. We couldn't even manage common boilers not to talk of nuclear reactors. Solar energy...yes, like u said Husna, its really expensive but then I believe the government should look into that too. Other options include the use of coal to power the plants instead of gas since our people 'the militants' are making a mess of things over there. It may have environmental consequences but its one of our best bet. We've got abundant coal deposits even in Gombe if am not mistaken. The railways are still useful, they can be used to move coal up north. All that's required is to re-activate the coal mines and the rail roads with the assistance of the Federal government and we are on our way to enjoying stead power supply. Any observation?

HUSNAA


I dont know about the quality of coal in Gombe ( I didnt even know there was coal to be had in Gombe.. Wow!) but in the south where the coal deposits are or were (is it in Enugu?) the quality is low that is why we have never had an export industry out of it. So maybe it maynt be a feasible alternative for gnerating electricity. But let's try the coal up north then. There is also wind energy.. although not sure how effective that is, as at least we need a coastal area or somewhere with unstable climatic conditions..
Ghafurallahi lana wa lakum

sheriff 05

I recently conducted a study into the use of alternative energy in buildings. My study revolved around single buildings and communal use of such energy. To be honest, the cost of solar panels does not at present make it economically viable to use at all. This is in industrialised economies not just in our case. Most people in the industrialised economies use it as a symbol of their shift towards "Green architecture" and "saving the planet". It has nothing to do with the level of sunshine, because these cells work on light, not heat. The maintenance and initial cost of production of the panels means that we obviously cannot afford it, considering that in our case, since we don't manufacture it locally, importation costs will also have to be included to this already high bill. But it is getting cheaper as research continues. Maybe later, but for now, I think not.

Wind energy on the other hand is more economical and very viable. The problem is it can most beneficially be used in high altitude locations, or in coastal areas, where wind velocity is high. Maybe in places like Jos it maybe feasible. If we can get an appropriate location, the benefits from this sort of energy is immense, as it is cheap, with limited maintenance cost. The problem is we need lots and lots of turbines to supply the amount of energy we're talking about, which means lots of open space in high wind velocity areas. I think wind turbines are an excellent idea if a good location is found and if they are built to sufficient quantity (economies of scale).  Off shore wind farms on the coastal areas, where lots of wind turbines are arraigned like a farm, collectively generating energy and taking advantage of high winds in these areas, will be a fantastic idea. I recently read that the UK government intends to lure investment into one of these, aimed at producing almost 1/3 of its entire household energy needs.

I agree with Hajia Husna, as per the coal idea.

Another option would be ethanol fuel. There's a report I read sometime ago about the use of ethanol fuels in Brazil. They power their cars with such alternative fuels and that has made them completely oil independent. And it gets it all from "SUGAR CANE". It's not an entirely simple process, but its nothing we cannot learn from.

I think the best solution for us would be to use a combination of these energy sources to meet our needs. The government in my opinion, should hold on to its present energy sources and improve their efficiency, and not invest in any other. then it should provide incentives through tax breaks, land incentives, import waivers, and other economically beneficial incentives, to lure investors into these alternative sources, particularly, coal, ethanol and wind, and simply regulate their activities, as it does with gsm regulators. This could be at a federal level or at state level. The idea is to generate business to business relationship, making businessmen see the economic viability of providing reliable and dependable energy which other businesses need to survive.

The reason for this is simple, capital investment from businessmen (and women of course), means that the energy company will be driven to continual innovation and efficiency in order to outdo competition, generate the maximum profit with minimal operating expenditure and develop a viable local workforce. But most importantly, industries will be spurred back into action, due to the renewed reliability, flexibility and less bureaucracy associated with private sector ventures. Therefore, companies are taken off the national grid and are linked to private sector energy providers. The benefit for you and me (the common man), is that there is freer capacity on the erstwhile national grid, for government to dedicate that to households, while providing subsidies to make it cheaper and more affordable as it deems fit, especially in the rural areas, where we most obviously cannot afford to pay what the big boys in the cities can pay. Everyone ends up being happy.


HUSNAA

Quote from: sheriff 05 on July 07, 2007, 10:56:58 AM
I recently conducted a study into the use of alternative energy in buildings. My study revolved around single buildings and communal use of such energy. To be honest, the cost of solar panels does not at present make it economically viable to use at all. This is in industrialised economies not just in our case. Most people in the industrialised economies use it as a symbol of their shift towards "Green architecture" and "saving the planet". It has nothing to do with the level of sunshine, because these cells work on light, not heat. The maintenance and initial cost of production of the panels means that we obviously cannot afford it, considering that in our case, since we don't manufacture it locally, importation costs will also have to be included to this already high bill. But it is getting cheaper as research continues. Maybe later, but for now, I think not.

That's it uc. The west dont really need solar energy desperately as we do here in Africa, bcos they have other alternatives. That is why we in Africa need
to really push forward with companies or research institutions with the know how on how to get to defray or lower the costs of solar energy production by getting involved in intensive research in the field.
Solar powered electricity generation doesnt use heat ofcourse. None of us are claiming that it is. The problem is not so much the light production itself as the manufacture of the right kind of silicon product that is used to harness the light energy. At anyrate, since the intensity of radiant flux at or near the equator is higher than at the mid or high latitudes  we will still be able to harness the energy more cheaply than those  living at higher latitudes, although they can compensate with longer hours in the day during summer time (probably)
Nigeria has the capacity to invest heavily in solar energy research. That is what it should be doing at the moment, instead of releasing billions of Naira to some giant elephants of electricity companies in the hope of a miracle. There is none to come. The only way forward is to go solar.

Quote from: sheriff 05 on July 07, 2007, 10:56:58 AMWind energy on the other hand is more economical and very viable. The problem is it can most beneficially be used in high altitude locations, or in coastal areas, where wind velocity is high. Maybe in places like Jos it maybe feasible. If we can get an appropriate location, the benefits from this sort of energy is immense, as it is cheap, with limited maintenance cost. The problem is we need lots and lots of turbines to supply the amount of energy we're talking about, which means lots of open space in high wind velocity areas. I think wind turbines are an excellent idea if a good location is found and if they are built to sufficient quantity (economies of scale).  Off shore wind farms on the coastal areas, where lots of wind turbines are arraigned like a farm, collectively generating energy and taking advantage of high winds in these areas, will be a fantastic idea. I recently read that the UK government intends to lure investment into one of these, aimed at producing almost 1/3 of its entire household energy needs.
Then Jos should get in on the act at least,  be a pioneer in wind energy production, instead of quagmiring itself in issues of who is and who isnt an indigene, or wrapping itself with the likes of Joshua Dariye and that human specimen called Mantu.




Quote from: sheriff 05 on July 07, 2007, 10:56:58 AMAnother option would be ethanol fuel. There's a report I read sometime ago about the use of ethanol fuels in Brazil. They power their cars with such alternative fuels and that has made them completely oil independent. And it gets it all from "SUGAR CANE". It's not an entirely simple process, but its nothing we cannot learn from.

Alternative views on the use of ethanol say that in the long run, the use of ethanol is not viable at all. They think that ethanol production as an alternative form of energy is just a way of taking the tax payers money ( in the places where they pay taxes that is) and making corn farmers richer or in this case sugarcane farmers. Obviously, u need the land to farm the sugarcane, u need to harvest it, u need to convert it, you need to export it and as ethanol degrades easily, you cant transport it in pipes like u can do petrol so u need to have tankers to carry the ethanol to and fro. All these avtivities also take ENERGY to do. I think in the US some one estimated that if all the corn in the US were converted to ethanol, it would only satisfy 12% of the current energy needs and consumption in the US. These alternative views concluded that the US politicians are just using ethanol as campaign gimmicks, but in the long run, it certainly isnt the solution.


Quote from: sheriff 05 on July 07, 2007, 10:56:58 AMThe government in my opinion, should hold on to its present energy sources and improve their efficiency, and not invest in any other.
i think that is what the govt has been doing at present and its not working.




Ghafurallahi lana wa lakum

gogannaka

The use of Solar energy can only be used domestically.Meaning that every household will provide the source for himself just like the generator case.
Solar energy cannot be used for industrial purposes(which is the most important) and neither can the power company deploy solar energy to its clients.
The output obtained from solar panels is very small and in DC (direct current). This DC needs to be converted to AC (alternating current) before your appliances can work.

The largest solar panel in the world is in France at the solar energy research centre.The size of the Panel is almost three storeys high and yet it produces,if i'm not mistaken,just 150 MW (that is not even sufficient for Kano state).
There needs to be a lot of research in this area before it can effectively be deployed.

The best solution to Nigeria's power problem is thermal/Gas plants.
The country is the worlds biggest flarer of Natural gas.This Gas could be utilised effectively and can generate more power in GW not even MW.
The whole country should be networked with gas pipelines.I believe this is not a herculian task as presently the country is extending the gas pipelines to countries as far as Ghana.
Sometime back i read in the papers that El-Rufai was going to draw up a gas pipeline to abuja such that
the FCT could be able to build it's own gas power plant.
With steps like this the country can get rid of the epileptic supply.

The launch of NIGCOMSAT1 will make surveillance of the pipelines simple and effective.

Amma duk wani Hydro,wind,coal etc ba shi bane.
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

Janwuya

Have u heard Yan'uwa? Wai we are going nuclear for power generation in the near future. Honestly am not comfortable with having a nuke in my backyard. The power will be enough to put us on the moon if care is not taken. We lack maintenance culture here....build a house here and for the next 20years u'll be seeing the same paint work looking at u, or is it our roads? But a nuclear reactor for power generation isn't what am bargaining for  :-\  :o Me kuka gani?

amira

Ni kau a ganina, sun iya daukar magana.Wat is the need off getting dis nuclear thing wen it nids maintenance like someone already pointed out,i know it would do good for the country........well i think so may be, but anyway as we know our nigeria is not very keen on kipping there appliance in tip toe condition, and ofcourse one wrong move on the power plant can be a disasterous outcome not unless there are planning in the near future to reduce the amount of nigerians, i seriously think they should share this nuclear system talk and concentrate on another aspect of naija's problem like..........
*Each day is definately defining me and finding me*

Dan-Borno

Kudai ku bari ku gani mana, ba Nigeria bane?
they just said it to have another chance of
syphoning our public treasure.

Janwuya, wai ina ka shiga ne kwana biyu?
"My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for" - Tupak

Janwuya

Gaskiya kuwa Dan-Borno, ayi dai mugani. Ina nan lafiya, ayyuka ne suka rutsa dani  :) ...Amma nuclear power generation has its own problems, u have to contract almost all the processes including getting rid of the radio active waste, why bother? We couldn't even maintain our hydro power plants....its nuke we want to jump into. What comes to my mind is Chernobyl and we don't want a repeat of that.

babanteema1

Assalamu Alaikum yan-uwana,

Just joined the discussion and followed every bit of it. Dan Borno should thank Allah and PHCN for given him 1 hour out of 24 hours. What about us that gets 1 hour in a week summed up together. This issue of electricity needs only Allah's intervention. Can you imagine that, we were told that Nigeria got her electricity before Saudi Arabia and also started with thesame number of Aircraft with thesame Saudi. Look at Saudi now, It has gone far in almost everything. As for Nigeria, it is just like a cause, instead of moving forward, it is the other way round. We must hold our currupt leaders responsible for all these things happening to our country. They were educated abroad with government scholarships, got jobs at their descrition, acquire wealths from National treasuries for their use and immediate family. OH!!!!! May Allah punish them all. Imagine the kind of assets forfeited to Bayelsa State Government by the the culprit ex governor. What about the rest of them that we dont know about. Allah ya tona asirin azzalumai. KUCI AMIN. So with all these problems on board, am afraid we have a long way to emancipate from the all similar problems including electricity. What do you think is responsible for the high tariff we pay for our phones calls, the companies do not get the source of power from PHCN but instead generate on daily basis accross the country with high rate odf diesel. Allah ya kawo mana sauki AMIN.   

dan kauye

I reason with you,to a large extent.However,I'd like to add my two kobos..

QuoteI recently conducted a study into the use of alternative energy in buildings. My study revolved around single buildings and communal use of such energy. To be honest, the cost of solar panels does not at present make it economically viable to use at all. This is in industrialised economies not just in our case. Most people in the industrialised economies use it as a symbol of their shift towards "Green architecture" and "saving the planet". It has nothing to do with the level of sunshine, because these cells work on light, not heat. The maintenance and initial cost of production of the panels means that we obviously cannot afford it, considering that in our case, since we don't manufacture it locally, importation costs will also have to be included to this already high bill. But it is getting cheaper as research continues. Maybe later, but for now, I think not.

While Nigeria may not be Germany or the UK in terms of economic muscle,I simply do not subscribe to the notion that we do not have the economic capacity to generate sustainable electricity,be it solar,wind or whatever.What if the $400 billion(in oil revenues) that was embezzeled between 1960-1999(equal to the aid to Africa during the same period)was chanelled toward solving our major problems,electricity inclusive,of course? But then again,this's the same country that,with all it's oil might,a third of the population still remains illiterate and 40% have no safe water supply.I digress,I know,but it's so hard to talk about just one problem because more often that not,the problems comes in intricate bunch.I think it's not so much that we can't afford alternative sources of energy as it is lack of clear vision,focus,and public loyalty on the part of our leaders(if you'd call them that).I also think that the problem of,say,electricity,is a small part of an even bigger one;misappropriation .What if the $100 million that was spent on COJA,which by the way,was an absolute failure,was redirected toward,say,research & devt. of alternative energy? See?




QuoteAnother option would be ethanol fuel. There's a report I read sometime ago about the use of ethanol fuels in Brazil. They power their cars with such alternative fuels and that has made them completely oil independent. And it gets it all from "SUGAR CANE". It's not an entirely simple process, but its nothing we cannot learn from.

Corn-ethanol is not without it's fault.Firstly,it costs more than gasoline  to manufacture.Secondly,it breaks down in existing pipelines,so it has to be trucked.Thirdly,it gets about 30% fewer kilometers to the liter than gas.And ethanol does little,on balance,to reduce greenhouse gases(an average Nigerian might say that's not their problem,right?).Nor does it help that ethanol's success depends on imponderables like subsidies,commodity prices,the weather,the geopolitics of oil and the a limited distribution network.All these leads to 2 big questions:If ethanol develop into a major fuel,will there be enough to satisfy the demands of distillers,cattle feeders,and food manufacturers? If so,at what price? I think the price issue is more problematic.Demand for corn or sugar will ultimately drive their prices up,so also would the prices of eggs,milk,cattle feed,chicken,sugar and whatever complementary commodity that depends on corn or sugarcane production.In essence,the development of corn or sugar based fueled may put the prices of some vital commodities on a pedestal,a reality we are not ready for.Inflation is already worse in Nigeria.

And what happens to prices in Kansas will be felt in Kano ,because corn is a worldwide commodity.In some ways,it may turn into very nasty food-or-fuel struggle and the stage may be set for competition between the,say,60% of the Nigerian population to whom corn is an integral part of thier diet and less than,say,30% of the population who own automobiles.

It's nothing we cannot learn from,though,as you put it.




QuoteI think the best solution for us would be to use a combination of these energy sources to meet our needs. The government in my opinion, should hold on to its present energy sources and improve their efficiency, and not invest in any other. then it should provide incentives through tax breaks, land incentives, import waivers, and other economically beneficial incentives, to lure investors into these alternative sources, particularly, coal, ethanol and wind, and simply regulate their activities, as it does with gsm regulators. This could be at a federal level or at state level. The idea is to generate business to business relationship, making businessmen see the economic viability of providing reliable and dependable energy which other businesses need to survive.


Co-signs.Truer words never spoken before.
Dan-Kauye's Artist Of The Week;Robin Thicke