Nigeria’s gas supply to neighbouring West African Countries may suffer another setback following the damage caused by a fire incident on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, which supplies gas from Escravos in the Niger Delta area to Lagos.
The pipeline, in addition to supplying gas to power plants in the South-West, also feeds the West Africa Gas Pipeline System. (WAGPS)
The WAGPS, operated by the West Africa Pipeline Company Limited, was built to supply natural gas from Nigeria to customers in Benin, Togo and Ghana.
Ghana gets about 25% of its power supply through gas from Nigeria, which flows through the pipeline via Benin, and Togo also receives 120 million standard cubic feet of gas daily from Nigeria.
Gas, not same as “light”
While Nigeria supplies Natural gas to a number of African Nations, it is noteworthy that gas itself does not translate to “light” or electricity, though it could be gotten from it.
Natural gas must be processed before it can be used. Extracted natural gas varies widely in terms of composition and quality, and must be processed before it can be used. The process itself varies depending on the composition of the extracted gas. Normally, water vapour, gases such as LPG and propane, and other undesirable substances like mercury and hydrogen sulphide are separated off.
Before natural gas was used on a commercial basis, the gas extracted in connection with oil extraction was burned off or “flared”, thus not electricity yet.
Natural gas is used to create electricity in one of two ways. After it has been extracted from the earth, it is transported via pipelines to a specialist facility.
At the specialist facility, impurities such as helium and carbon dioxide are removed before taking it to a power plant where it drives a steam turbine or a combustion turbine. Both methods generate electricity – although the latter is more efficient.
Natural gas is not only used to generate electricity, it is often used as a domestic cooking and heating tool, via gas-fired hobs and central heating systems. It can be used in homes with no access to mains electricity and can even power cars and airplanes.
Is there shortage of gas in Nigeria?
Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and also possesses the largest natural gas reserves in the continent.
Natural gas reserves are well over 5 trillion m³ and are several times as substantial as the crude oil reserves. The biggest natural gas operator is the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company which began exploration and production in 1999.
How then is Nigeria, the country with the 9th most proven natural gas reserves in the world unable to provide the natural gas needed by her thermal power plants?
In November 2014, the then Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo stated that Nigeria was losing over 60% of its installed gas-fired capacity due to the lack of gas. He declared that while 1.9 billion cubic feet of gas was needed per day to power the country’s total capacity, the gas plants were only able to produce approximately 900 million cubic feet per day.
In addition to this outright gas supply shortage, another issue is pipeline vandalism. Sadly, this is an issue that has been around for a long time with the government seemingly finding it difficult to curtail.
Pipelines are essentially the veins of gas-powered generation; it provide the route for the transportation of natural gas from where they are mined to the power plants where it is needed, which are often numerous hundreds of kilometres away.
According to Dr Sam Amadi, former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigeria lost as much as 10% of the total thermal capacity due to pipeline vandalism in early 2014.
In January 2016, Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, reported that the vandalism of the Excravos-Lagos pipeline would incure N470 million losses per day across the entire power sector supply chain.
Apparently, Nigeria suffers from her inability to lure more investors into the gas sector, which will in turn boost the exploration, production and supply gas which the Nation has in abundance.
Is electricity generated from gas alone?
Despite Nigeria’s huge Natural gas reserve, supply remains a major obstacle in achieving the desired goal of constant power to boost the Nation’s economy.
In light of this, seeking other means and methods of generating power could be a reliable option if the Nation is to solve the problem of constant ‘blackout’.
However, other methods of generating electricity which should be considered by the government are:
Solar Energy:
The sun is the first energy source in the world and the alternative source used most widely across the globe. It was in use much earlier before humans even learnt how to light a fire. Many living things are dependent on solar energy from plants, aquatic life and to the animals. Solar energy is mostly used in generating electricity and heat.
About 70% of the sunlight gets reflected back into the space and we have only 30% of sunlight to meet up our energy demands.
There are two kinds of solar energy; the active solar energy and the passive solar energy. Passive solar energy basically uses duration, position and sun’s rays’ intensity to its advantage in heating a particular area. It also uses it to induce airflow from an area to the next. Active solar energy uses electrical technology and mechanical technology like collection panels in capturing, converting and storing energy for future use.
Solar energy does not create any pollution and is widely used by many countries. It is renewable source of power, since the sun will continue to produce sunlight all the years. Solar panels, which are required to harness this energy can be used for long time and require little or no maintenance. Solar energy proves to be ineffective in colder regions which don’t receive good sunlight. It cannot be used during night and not all the light from sun can be trapped by solar panels. Solar energy advantages are more than its disadvantages which make it as a viable source of producing alternative energy.
Coal
Countries like Britain still utilise coal as a source of reliable and uninterrupted energy accounting for 33% of electricity generation. Although it is a dirty fuel that produces heavy greenhouse gas emissions and indigenous sources are being run down, advances in technology offer a new dawn for a clean coal sector
UK Coal, the privatised company and successor to the National Coal Board, is struggling to make profits out of a dwindling number of deep and relatively expensive mines. It is increasingly being seen as a takeover target by speculators who want to develop its land bank rather than mine coal. Domestic coal has the added problem of being heavy in SO2-producing sulphur and the public has shown itself adamantly opposed to allowing surface mining, which is relatively cheap but tough on the landscape.
Wind Energy
This is one of the energy sources that have been in use for a very long time and for centuries. It was used in powering sailing ships, which made it possible for explorers to sail around their trade routes in distant lands. A single windmill can power the crop irrigation, a family energy needs, water pumping and electric lights.
However, in present time, there are several windmills that are used to generate required energy mostly for industrial uses. Many of the wind turbines can capture more power all at once before feeding it to the power grid. This is commonly known as wind farms and has been in use for many years all round the world.
Wind power is renewable source of energy that can reduce our dependence on oil and gas. It does not cause any air pollution and can also be an avenue to generate employment. Advancement in technologies has brought down the cost of setting up wind power plant. Wind energy can only be used in areas which experience high winds, of which Nigeria has.
Geothermal Energy
Geo’ means Earth and ‘thermal’ means energy. Geothermal energy means energy drawn or harnessed from beneath the earth. It is completely clean and renewable. Geothermal energy has been in used since last several years. The earth contains a molten rock called magma. Heat is continuously produced from there. The temperature increases about 3 degrees Celsius, for every 100 meters you go below ground. Below, 10,000 meters the temperature is so high, that it can be used to boil water. Water makes its way deep inside the earth and hot rock boils that water. The boiling water then produces steam which is captured by geothermal heat pumps. The steam turns the turbines which in turn activates generators.
Geothermal energy can be found anywhere on the earth. Most countries tap this energy to generate electricity, using thermal mass flow meters, and power millions of homes. The areas which have high underground temperatures are the ones which are prone to volcanoes. The United States produces more Geothermal electricity than any other country in the world.
