A Don, Prof. Adenike Boyo, has said that a shift from petroleum and other forms of energy generation to solar would address the menace of epileptic fuel and power supply in Nigeria.
Boyo, a Professor of Physics, made the assertion at the 65th Inaugural Lecture of the Lagos State University (LASU), titled: “The Burning and Shining Light’’ on Tuesday.
According to her, this is because Nigeria receives an average of 1,831.06TWh of solar energy annually from the sun which is equivalent to about 1.082 million tons of oil.
“This is about 4,000 times the current crude oil production per day and also about 13,000 times of daily natural gas production based on energy unit,’’ she said.
Boyo added that facts and figures indicate that the potential to generate significant amount of electrical energy from solar energy was very high for the country.
She said that Nigeria’s present electricity supply was highly insufficient and epileptic; a situation which had led individuals, corporate and government organisations to make alternative arrangement through such means as electricity generators.
“Thinking ‘Renewable’ is therefore a general approach that has been identified to fill in this energy shortage without degrading our environment,’’ she said.
The professor expressed dissatisfaction with the direction taken by the Federal Government in taking pragmatic steps toward developing, implementing policies that would serve as a baseline for Solar-energy utilisation to thrive.
“There is great need to improve structures on ground and also introduce alternate energy technologies such as renewables to complement efforts to provide sustainable energy for the citizens.
“There should also be a government policy and legislation on solar energy, while the government and private industry should invest on solar energy research,’’ she said.
Boyo noted that every new home of comfortable family should have installation for solar power since solar energy saved power, increased standard of life and was cheaper.
She also said that researchers in tertiary institutions should be given the privilege to report their research findings related to PV technologies to the Renewable Energy Centres to ease transfer of findings into finished products.
