The future of Energy and catapulting Nigeria to a global leadership pedestal
Greatness takes changing status quo
Nigeria is a vast country of resources, the largest African country and quite honestly a huge mess. Nigeria is currently on the decline, with rising inflation, high unemployment, lacking basic amenities, poor health and education sectors, high insecurity in most regions and the list doesn’t end there but you get the point.
Nigeria wasn’t always like this you know, we used to be called the Giant of Africa, not just for our shear numbers, we were great achievers, had solid economic prowess, and the shining example for other African countries to imitate.
Our healthcare was so good, we were a healthcare destination for royalties and top leaders from around the world. Our cocoa and rubber was undeniably highly valued in the international market and so was our leather, crude oil, Palm oil etc.
What happened to this once great nation can happen to anyone really, greed, criminality and suppression, those are my keywords to summarise the turn of evens over the decades that saw the decline of a once prosperous society.
Today energy is fast becoming one of the foremost new age currencies, with electricity, heating and cooling as very important components of the energy sphere. In our daily lives these aforementioned components are inevitable from running lights, to machines, cooking, conditioning temperatures in our homes, transport systems, offices, etc.
Energy access has been prioritised as one of the United Nations goals to making human life much better and sustainable meaning all nations are expected to meet this goal in whatever capacity they can. Energy access simply put means “access to energy”, how easy is it to access energy, and how many have access to energy.
Surprisingly, we live in a country where if I told you more people used firewood than gas, it shouldn’t really be a suprise seeing that even though urbanisation is rising, urbanisation doesn’t necessarily influence peoples choices, as they turn to cheaper alternatives for fuels needed in cooking. Most low income earners in urban cities and people in rural communities still depend on biomass (coal and firewood ) for heating and night light and still competes with cooking gas in most urban cities in Nigeria.
Electricity is still a far cry, with an estimated 45% of Nigerians with access to electricity from the national grid. Meaning over 130 million people stand to be connected to the electricity grid, a viable market for anyone who likes financial projections in millions to multiply their portfolios for goods or services provided. Supplying meters, cables, sockets, switches and light bulbs to these millions of unconnected potentials can prove a viable business as would providing services to them as well.
However, it is understandable that in meeting the UN’s SDG 7 on Energy access, most developed countries have run numerous simulations, and have come to the conclusion that grid expansion projects are not only expensive but cannot ultimately grow with increasing populations and energy demand. Thus, thinking outside the box has given energy analysts and enthusiasts the golden path to the future, Hydrogen.
Hydrogen, one of the most abundant elements in the world, is often bounded in compounds to most things we see in nature, from water to chemicals to fuels and food. Hydrogen is truly abundant, hydrogen has earned its reputation as a triple energy vector, as fuel, as electricity and as a battery when you store the gas. Hydrogen as a gas is highly combustible and extremely light, and with fuel cells and electrolysis, can be harnessed from soluble liquids like water into gas with electrolysis, and from electricity and back to gas with fuel cells.
So how does a country lacking visionary leadership go from an oil and gas economy to becoming a hydrogen leader? Well, by re-purposing dead and dying facilities like our refineries, which continue to milk the country of superior value and has constantly been a hole in the country’s revenue. Natural gas has the potential to be refined into hydrogen, and Nigeria is surely a natural gas nation as we were a crude oil novelty in the past, owning vast deposits of natural gas reserves. A partial overhaul and re-purposing of existing oil and gas facilities, with modular and scalable units for hydrogen processing can undoubtedly be achieved through a process called Steam reformation. Hydrogen can then be piped and sent from one part of the country to another just as natural gas has been done for many years, especially like in the case of our Independent Power Producers, IPP, who use natural gas in giant gas powered generators to generate electricity for Nigerians nationwide.
Hydrogen can also alternatively be refined in the different regions and distributed to homes and major fuel stations via pipeline or delivery trucks where they can be utilised for central or decentralised electricity, heating or cooling, creating a vast value chain and vast employment from well to wheel or well to home.
Most developed and developing countries are adding hydrogen to their energy future, meaning their fuel, their transportation and general energy needs can be met with hydrogen which can be used as gas and as electricity. The hydrogen market worldwide will skyrocket as hydrogen will not only be produced from gas, but can be produced in a much cleaner way with renewable energy meaning less pollutions and by-products to contend with. Countries will then seek to secure their hydrogen supplies by buying hydrogen to secure consistency in their economies and operation, where we can become a major exporter.
Currently, for most countries electrifying transportation (use of electric cars) and heating (use of heaters) can further collapse the already strained electricity transmission grids, but hydrogen produced from renewable energy closer to clients (solar roof tops or municipal solar projects) for small and medium users can bridge the need for capital intensive piping projects to get hydrogen to some end users.
It will take dedication, focus and a change from business as usual to implement, but Nigeria can once again find its mantle as a giant on the African continent.
Written by Mundez
edmundez@me.com
To read about air and gas powered economy click here.
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