Nigeria - Federal Government sets up wind energy plant

The Federal Government has started the process of harnessing power from wind to generate electricity by establishing a pilot project in Katsina State.

Sam Gekpe, managing director of a rural electrification agency, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, did not state the amount of electricity the project would generate. However, Gekpe said a recent World Bank report indicated that about 2-billion people in the world had no access to electrical energy and most of them "live in isolated rural areas in developing countries." He was speaking at the West African Power Industrial Convention where he presented a paper titled: "Showcasing innovative renewable power generation and promoting off-grid power supply".

The wind regime in Nigeria is moderate, generally weak in the south except in the coastal and offshore areas and strongest in the hilly regions of the north, according to Gempe. He notes that the mountainous terrains, especially in the middle belts and the northern fringes of the country where prime wind conditions exist, hold high potentials for exploration and development in electricity.

According to him, the current thinking is to review available energy options, especially the decentralised sources that could supply poor and isolated communities with energy for development. Gekpe says participation is now widely accepted as a prerequisite to ensuring equity and sustainability of local infrastructure investments.

"The rural electrification policy and strategy of the Federal Government of Nigeria is moving away from a centrally planned approach to rural electrification. It rather embraces a bottom-up approach; REA is promoting a market-oriented approach to rural electrification. "By this, the agency sets the general policy approach for rural electrification activities, while the development of projects will come from the communities and operators that identify a particular need," according to Gempe.