10/14/2005
Nigeria – Plea to States to develop renewable energy mix
Africa's largest oil producer, Nigeria, has urged the continent's nations to develop an integrated energy mix that included renewable energy sources alongside fossil fuels. Nigeria's Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru said renewables such as biomass, wind, solar and small hydro-schemes were often more appropriate in rural areas because of infrastructural constraints. "We really must be developing energy policies on an integrated basis, not simply looking at petroleum," Daukoru said at the 18th World Petroleum Congress. However, no binding commitments on the 62-member countries of the World Petroleum Council (WPC) were adopted on this topic, or any other as the congress drew to a close. "The WPC is not an organisation that comes up with resolutions," said Lindiwe Hendricks, the minerals and energy minister.
She added that most countries had endorsed renewable energies for the generation of fuel and electricity. Fossil fuels oil, gas and coal comprised 83 percent of the world's energy supply while renewables constituted just 2 per cent, according to WPC president Eiwald Roren. "We can't do away quickly with this kind of dependence," said Roren, although he cited estimates that renewables could add about 20 per cent to the global energy mix by 2030 of the same order that gas comprised. Renewable energy sources are growing by between 20 per cent and 25 per cent a year compared with growth of 1.5 per cent for oil and 2.5 per cent for gas.
Daukoru said in order to develop sustainable, oil-dependent countries needed to diversify to the extent that exhaustible fossil fuels were a "tiny percentage" of gross domestic product. He urged them not to pin their hopes on direct revenues in order to create wealth, but rather on adding value to resource extraction processes by developing skills. Nigeria, for example, earned $12 billion (R76.80 billion) of petroleum revenues a year. But on a per capita basis, this amounted to just $120 a person each year. "That does not go far enough to make anybody rich by any stretch of the imagination." Meanwhile, Hendricks said South Africa had not held discussions with other African countries this week over a proposed pan-African oil exploration company, but energy ministers would engage on the matter in the future.
She added that most countries had endorsed renewable energies for the generation of fuel and electricity. Fossil fuels oil, gas and coal comprised 83 percent of the world's energy supply while renewables constituted just 2 per cent, according to WPC president Eiwald Roren. "We can't do away quickly with this kind of dependence," said Roren, although he cited estimates that renewables could add about 20 per cent to the global energy mix by 2030 of the same order that gas comprised. Renewable energy sources are growing by between 20 per cent and 25 per cent a year compared with growth of 1.5 per cent for oil and 2.5 per cent for gas.
Daukoru said in order to develop sustainable, oil-dependent countries needed to diversify to the extent that exhaustible fossil fuels were a "tiny percentage" of gross domestic product. He urged them not to pin their hopes on direct revenues in order to create wealth, but rather on adding value to resource extraction processes by developing skills. Nigeria, for example, earned $12 billion (R76.80 billion) of petroleum revenues a year. But on a per capita basis, this amounted to just $120 a person each year. "That does not go far enough to make anybody rich by any stretch of the imagination." Meanwhile, Hendricks said South Africa had not held discussions with other African countries this week over a proposed pan-African oil exploration company, but energy ministers would engage on the matter in the future.
- Source:
- Online Editorial www.windfair.net
- Author:
- Edited by Trevor Sievert, Online Editorial Journalist
- Email:
- press@windfair.net
