By Oladipo Oluwatosin
Use of solar power as an alternative energy is gaining momentum all over the world. This is mainly because it is absolutely safe and does not yield any waste material that is hazardous for atmosphere, unlike nuclear energy. More and more buildings, including colleges, residential complexes, schools, offices are now being solar powered, and this trend is now quite evident in India, Germany and Denmark as well.
It is a known factor that all activities from infrastructure, industrialization, manufacturing, and economic growth in Nigeria are suffering from inadequate and constant power supply. This power brouhaha, has dried up the wealth and growth of upcoming businesses (SMEs) and many industries that runs 24-hour operations. Most especially in this era of digitalisation where all business and offices are run on the cloud for sustainability and relevancy in the digital economy.
The digital world birth a lot of businesses after the Covid Pandemic incubation across the globe with diverse innovations and inventions. Nigeria is not exempted but the power to function effectively and to compete equals across the globe is the enemy of their productivity
Comparing Nigeria and South Africa power capacity and supply in recent time, Nigeria can only provide 12,522MW capacity of electricity with an output of about 5,074MW highest generation to serve its 200 million people while South Africa provide 45,000MW capacity and 35,819MW highest generation for its 52.4 million population.
It was recalled when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in May 2015 that his priority was to give the Nigeria Power monster causing perpetual darkness all over the nation a red card.
However, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing trumpeted when he was managing Power sector during the change agenda that Nigeria now generates more than its distributive capacity; apparently unaware of the discordance in policy and implementation which he seeks to highlights.
"Generated power has gone up to 7,000MW in 2017 from 3,000MW in May 2015; transmission capacity at 6,900MW in 2017 from about 5,000MW in May 2015; peak distribution now averaging 5,000MW in 2017 from 2,690MW in 2015."
Mr Usman Gur Mohammed, Managing Director/CEO, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), also disclosed that it has achieved 8,100MW wheeling capacity in 2018 and targets capacity of about 10,000MW in years ahead.
Wow! What an interesting figures, but to be candid, these figures are not visible in realities in the Nigerian homes, industries and streets. Nigerians don't care about the pressures of power supply; all they are clamouring for is 24 hours and affordable electricity on demand. Nigerians want an electricity solution they can control like their mobile phones — which they recharge when they want.
Hmm! What is more frustrating about the measured bills are contrariwise fair to actual electricity consumed. This mode of electricity demand and supply is no longer sustainable in Nigeria. Even the prepaid meter implementation is not yielding result as PHCN officers are trading with the distribution. Nigeria can't afford to look away from the solar energy innovation at the time the rest of the world is exploring alternative sustainable energy which is the future and most reliable source of power generation without any emission.
Mr Arthur Ottor, Group Managing Director and Solar Energy Specialist at Ottor Global Services, Nigeria and Ottor Global GmbH, Germany stated that 'Clean and Affordable Energy for everyone is the Biggest Challenge of our time. Nigerians don't have to pay more for dirty power when they can save thousands with clean solar energy.
Imagine saving billions of naira over the next 20 years or more; imagine getting these savings simply by using a different source of electricity and now imagine the source of that electricity is clean, renewable, and sustainable; he said.
Nigeria is at the advantage because abundant sunlight in the Northern parts of the country which result in solar X-ray at 7.0Kw.m2/day and readings in the coastal areas soar to an average of 3.5 kw.m2/day.
We could generate over 900,000MegaWatts by investing and installing Thin Film Solar Panel from just one percent of our landmass — no wonder solar costs less.'
To be honest, nothing could stop Nigeria from diversifying to solar energy like Germany who pays People to Use Electricity. Do you know that Nigeria government can also pay Nigerians to use electricity if heavily invested into? How and when will it happen? Yes! It's possible, all we need is to learn and follow Germany solar innovation footprints, says Ottor.
Insight into why Germany Pays people to Use Electricity
On Sunday, May 8 Germany produced so much electric power that prices were actually negative. As in, customers got paid to use the electrical system. The crazy high energy production was due to an especially sunny windy day in the European nation, meaning that wind farms and solar panels were able to make even more renewable power than usual, Quartz reported.
In total, 87% of the power produced in Germany was made at solar, wind, hydro and biomass plants during that day. The average percentage last year was 33%. Presently, Germany is known to have a greater share of renewable energy every year all over the world. Germany is hoping to be on 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Nigeria Involvement
Due to the Germany record breaking in solar energy Innovation, Ottor Global Services, Jolados Technology and so many other company in the renewable energy sector are now committed to providing unequaled and impeccable round-the-clock power supply via solar power generation to populace of Nigeria and the entire West African Sub-Region to protect its environment and reduce dangerous emission from greenhouse gas.
However, a small steps such as installing solar panels on homes across the country can go a long way in helping reduce humanity's carbon footprint, leaving a better world for future generations.
Therefore, for efficiency Ottor Global services partnered with a reputable solar manufacturing company in Germany with diverse of "never seen before" technology solutions that incorporates the thin film panels and a set of inverter with memory.
This system makes the inclusion of stacks of batteries irrelevant. It enables the thin film panels extract sunlight during the day time, cloudy and even at night.
Instead of storage to be done by the batteries as in the conventional solar electricity generation system, the energy is stored in the system memory which is ever ready to be used as at when due, hence it is called smart energy generation.
About the Thin Film Panel
A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon.
The solar panel is an enduring icon of the quest for renewable energy. You'll see the black-paned rectangles on the rooftops of houses or assembled into arrays across fields and prairies. But the panel as we have come to know it - '5.5 feet by 2.75 feet by 2 inches (1.7 m by 0.8 m by 5 cm)'-may be history.
That's because a new type of technology (THIN FILM) stands ready to take its rightful place next to traditional silicon wafer-it is efficient, cost-effective to convert sunlight into electricity. The technology is the thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cell, which, by 2010, had already started producing 3,700 megawatts of electricity worldwide.
Thin film cells are well-known since the late 1970s, when solar calculators powered by a small strip of amorphous silicon appeared on the market.
It is now available in very large modules used in sophisticated building-integrated installations, power yacht, boat and canoe and also vehicle charging systems.
Although thin-film technology was expected to make significant advances in the market and to surpass the dominating conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology in the long-term, market-share has been declining for several years now. While in 2010, when there was a shortage of conventional PV modules, thin-film accounted for 15 percent of the overall market, it declined to 8 percent in 2014, and is expected to stabilize at 7 percent from 2015 onward, with amorphous silicon expected to lose half of its market-share by the end of the decade.
Unlike the conventional silicon-wafer cells, which have light-absorbing layers that are traditionally 350 microns thick, thin-film solar cells have light-absorbing layers that are just one micron thick. A micron, for reference, is one-millionth of a metre.
Thin Film is Becoming More Viable. This newest form of solar cell technology, thin film solar panels are quite different from traditional panel designs. These panels are made by depositing a photovoltaic substance onto a solid surface such as glass. The photovoltaic substances use can vary and it has been found that using multiple combinations of substances tends to have a better result than relying on a single substance to produce electricity. While this technology is still considered immature in relation to other panel types, advancements in the next 10 years are projected to make this panel type commercially viable.
Solar Innovations
The latest solar panel technology witness a lot of breakthroughs in 2018.
Solar tracking mounts: As solar starts to reach mainstream status, more and more homeowners are considering solar — even those who have roofs that are less than ideal for panels. Because of this expansion, ground mounted solar is becoming a viable clean energy option, thanks in part to tracking mount technology.
Trackers allow solar panels to maximize electricity production by following the sun as it moves across the sky. PV tracking systems tilt and shift the angle of a solar array as the day goes by to best match the location of the sun. Though this panel add-on has been available for some time, solar manufacturers are truly embracing the technology in 2016.
Advances in solar panel efficiency: The past few years in the solar industry have been a race to the top in terms of solar cell efficiency, and 2016 was no different. A number of achievements by various panel manufacturers have brought us to today's current record for solar panel efficiency: 23.5 percent.
The solar cell types used in mainstream markets could also see major improvements in cost per watt — a metric that compares relative affordability of solar panels. The result will be a solar panel that can generate 20+ percent efficiency while still being one of the lowest cost options on the market.
Recently a new research revealed a new tech concept that captures and utilizes the waste heat that is usually emitted by solar panels. This typically released and non-harnessed thermal energy is a setback and opportunity for improvement for solar technology, which means this innovation could help the cost of solar to plummet even further.
Solar thermal fuel (STF): There is little debate when it comes to solar power's ultimate drawback as an energy source: storage. While the past decade has seen incredible growth of the PV industry, the path forward for solar involves an affordable storage solution that will make solar a truly sustainable energy source 24 hours a day.
Solar water purifiers: This a new solar device that can purify water when exposed to sunlight. The minuscule tablet (roughly half the size of a postage stamp) is not the first solar device to filter water, but it has made major strides in efficiency compared to past inventions.
Portable solar brings light to developing world : For places recovering from disaster or communities lacking access to electricity, solar systems provide an alternative or a complement to traditional power sources such as fossil fuel generators (diesel or gasoline is not only expensive, it emits noxious fumes and can cause fires). For example, after the first of two devastating earthquakes struck Nepal, solar power systems was deployed to help power lights and mobile charging stations for relief workers and the displaced.
Solar desalination: solution to drought: Scientists are solving the planet's fresh water worries with a little help from the sun. This method of turning brackish water into drinking water with a solar-powered machine that can pull salt out of water. It then further disinfects the water with ultraviolet rays. With parts of the planet running perilously low on fresh water, realization of this technology can't come soon enough.
Solar transportation: In the air and on the road, solar technology is going the distance. Currently, the Solar Impulse 2, the first solar airplane able to sustain flight at night with a pilot on board, is making its historic round-the-world trip powered only by the sun.
Over in the Netherlands, SolaRoad, the world's first "solar road," has defied expectations and has generated about 3,000 kWh of power, enough to provide a single-person household with electricity for a year. Considering it's only a 230-feet bike path, the potential for this technology could be big, kind of like photovoltaic technology itself.
Policy, Politics and Environmental factor
Most of the nation's affair are politicize based on vested interest. It is a known fact that Nigeria's Federal Government cannot fund diversification to solar energy alone but if it exhibit the willingness and proactive in deploying its limited resources in this area, investors would buy into the idea.
Senator Buka Mustapher, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, during the Ministry of Power's 2018 Budget defense was queried by the Senate over N10 billion solar proposal for rural electrification of nine federal universities and 37 teaching hospitals in Nigeria. The senate question tone of "Who is paying for the installations when the power sector had been privatized?" is indicated that they lack knowledge and proper consultation on the matter or may be the lawmakers are only protecting vested interests in the power sector.
If Nigeria wants to fulfil its National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy 2015 (NREEEP), it needs to embrace responsibility to scale up the deployment of solar energy starting with public buildings, parks and streets, then expanding to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMES) across the country. In fact beyond setting the target of achieving 16% renewable energy consumption for Nigeria by year 2030 policies, FG needs to provide some decent incentives for the sector, including; Free Custom Duties for two years on the importation of renewable energy equipment; allows project developers to obtain soft loans from the Renewable Electricity Fund (REF); tax incentives/holidays to manufacturers of renewable energy products; and assist in allocation of land to manufacturers.
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the African Development Bank (AFDB) are ready to support and fund solar projects, but also help member states develop such bankable projects. Nigeria is apt for massive solar deployment and most individuals/businesses are already opting for home solar systems in the off-grid (stand-alone) space.
Government should take advantages of the above mentioned incentives to fulfill its Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' Goal 7 (Clean Energy). Government must act fast, take the lead and see solar energy as a long-term strategic bankable option. It is not a short term project, it must be planned for.
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