The long-awaited answer to Nigeria’s power crisis, especially in the distribution and storage segments of the electricity value chain, may be around the corner.
This, however, can be accelerated by advancing the pioneering efforts of the Netherlands-based Nigerian scholar, Dr. Peter Ngene (winner of the 2018 NLNG Science Prize), who is vast in the fields of renewable energy and explosion prevention.
The insight came from the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) at a recent business interactive forum on innovation in electric power solutions that held recently in Lagos. In the wisdom of the two agencies, diversifying Nigeria’s power generation sources to accommodate new alternatives while exploring the models offered by Ngene’s groundbreaking research will deliver the viable power solutions all Nigerians have been waiting for.
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Background: In October 2018, Ngene won the $100, 000 NLNG Science prize for his evolutionary work in ‘Nanostructured metal hydrides for the storage of electric power from renewable energy sources and for explosion prevention in high voltage power transformers.’ Over time, experts have recognised Mr. Ngene’s innovation as a blessing to the energy industry, particularly its potential contributions to renewable energy development and power distribution architecture.
Why this matters: Conversations over the diverse benefits that renewable energy holds for the future have never diminished. Standard practice all around the world today suggests that there is an increasing drift from energy sources like fossil fuel and crude oil to environmentally-friendly alternatives such as solar, wind, and hydropower, which do not pose serious health threats.
Embracing renewable energy is, therefore, a timely intervention for the power industry as it will save the nation from several health hazards and threats arising from exposure to fumes and toxic waste while guaranteeing a clean, salubrious atmosphere for Nigerians at large.
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Similarly, renewable energy offers a sustainable means of generating electricity at a cheaper cost. It is noteworthy that renewable energy provides power from abundant and sustainable sources, which do not deplete unlike fossil fuel and crude oil, whose deposit diminishes with the passage of time.
It must be mentioned that leveraging the explosion prevention potential in Ngene’s work will present stakeholders in electricity distribution with the ability to curb the high incidence of transformer explosion all around Nigeria.
[READ FURTHER: Nigerian Businesses spend N5 trillion yearly on power generation]