Imagine compact rural power plants located across the food belts of Nigeria that each generated about 2MW of power a year. This is equivalent to supplying power to about 2000+ average homes 24/7 and 365 days in the year. In the case of house holds in the rural parts of Nigeria this could even supply more home because their average power usage in lower than that of the average western home.
The key components needed for this power plant are the
1. The plant itself.
2. A natural source of water i.e Stream or River
3. A storage yard for grass or alternative biomass fuels
4. A drying facility for fuels delivered that have high water content.
5. Loading facility for byproducts i.e ash etc.
If hundreds of these plants are strategically located from Kwara to Sokoto, From Ebonyi to Borno and Niger to Adamawa we will all of a sudden be looking at about 200-500MW of additional power given to the bread baskets of Nigeria. The fuel they will be utilizing will not cost the country any extra as it is the by product of what is burn every dry season either intentionally or accidentally.
We should borrow a leaf from what is been done in developing countries with Elephant grass/alternative bio fuels and with current biomass power generation technologies available in the market. We are loosing our trees because rural dwellers cannot afford the exorbitant prices of cooking Paraffin I believe ideas like this could reverse the current rate of deforestation in Nigeria.
Photos courtesy of hear.org and laurenacklin.com
