By Victoria Okpanachi
Professor Ralf-Dieter Rogler, a German electrical expert, has said Nigeria should not have experienced the persistent electricity blackouts in the last 10 years.
The professor of electrical engineering at a University of Applied Sciences in Germany, made the assertion on Friday, September 4, while delivering the 21st Distinguished Lecture of the Federal University Lokoja.
The lecture, titled “Comparison Between the Nigerian and German Electrical Grid: Lessons and Challenges to the Nigerian University System,” brought together stakeholders to examine the striking differences between the electricity systems of both countries and what Nigeria could learn from Germany’s experience.
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The German professor explained that his country’s energy system had undergone significant changes over the years, with traditional sources such as coal gradually giving way to renewable energy.
He noted that Germany, despite having a much smaller population than Nigeria, had developed a diversified energy system that included several sources of electricity and had invested heavily in its transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Comparing the two countries, he noted that Germany, with about 82 million inhabitants and a land area of approximately 357,000 square kilometres, had an installed electricity generation capacity of about 119,400 megawatts and available power of 82,700MW, while, Nigeria, with a population of about 240 million and a land area of approximately 923,000 square kilometres, had installed capacity of only about 6,400MW, with approximately 3,800MW available.
The disparity, he said, became even more striking when the figures were considered on a per-capita basis. While Germany had about 840 watts of electrical power available per inhabitant, Nigeria had only about 10 watts. Germany also had approximately 40,000 kilometres of 220/380kV transmission grid and 75,000 kilometres of 110kV grid, compared with Nigeria’s roughly 6,000 kilometres and 4,000 kilometres respectively.
On reliability, Rogler presented figures showing that Germany recorded only about eight minutes of power loss annually, compared with approximately 2,800 minutes in Nigeria. He further noted that Germany had a load-sharing time of virtually zero minutes, while Nigeria could experience about 261,000 minutes, with electricity availability put at about 99.99 per cent in Germany compared with roughly 70 per cent in Nigeria.
According to him, the figures tell a story that Nigerians have lived for years with an electricity system that remains unstable and unable to consistently meet the country’s growing needs.
He also commended the university for the solar power system it had installed, describing alternative sources of energy as increasingly important in addressing energy challenges.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Lokoja, Professor Gbenga Ibileye, said the Distinguished Lecture was organised to expose the university community to international practices and ideas that could contribute to solving local challenges.
According to him, the lecture had reinforced the need for Nigeria to embrace multiple sources of energy to address its huge energy deficit.
