Coal As Potential Source Of Energy

One of the greatest challenges facing President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is inadequate power supply in the country. Like its successors, Jonathan’s government has been trying to tackle the energy crisis to no avail. While neighbouring countries like Ghana are enjoying uninterrupted power supply for almost me year, Nigeria, despite its vast economic base and endowed natural resources, has been bedevilled by epileptic power supply.

It all seems as if the Federal Government is in a helpless situation as to how to tackle energy crisis in the country.

Recently however, President Goodluck Jonathan initiated a Power Sector Reform Agenda, which was partly hinged on the use of coal as an alternative source of energy.

The president was determined to end the energy crisis by exploiting the potential of alternative power sources, such as coal, hydro, wind, solar and biomass.

While unveiling the roadmap for power sector reforms, Jonathan stressed that the country’s coal resources would be used to power electricity plants in states such as Gombe, Kogi, Enugu and Benue.

He also said that private companies would be encouraged to build gas-fired and hydro-power plants, while the Federal Government would enhance the access of potential investors in the power sector to credit facilities.

Jonathan said that under the power sector reforms agenda, the thermal generating plants of the PHCN would be privatised via the sale of a minimum of 51 percent equity to core investors with established technical and financial ability to operate and expand each plant.

It will be recalled that prior to oil and gas, coal was the main source of energy for virtually all the economies across the world, as home appliances, industrial plants and electricity generation plants vastly relied on the use of coal.

In Nigeria, for instance, following the discovery of coal in commercial quantities in Udi, near Enugu, in 1909;the Federal Government established, the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) in 1950 and charged it with the responsibility of exploring, developing, and exploiting the country’s coal resources.

Shortly after, more discoveries were made in some states, including Abia, Anambra, Imo, Kogi, Delta, Plateau, Ebonyi, Gombe, Benue, Edo, Bauchi, Cross River and Adamawa.

In view of the discovery of new coal deposits, the NCC increased its coal production in the Enugu mines from 583,487 tonnes to 905,397 tonnes between 1950 and 1959.

The appreciable increase in coal production provoked the establishment of coal-fired plants in Orji River, Enugu State, and in some other places,  the coal was also used to power coal-fired locomotives and cement production plants, among others.

The situation however changed, following the 1966-1970 Nigerian civil war, which drastically affected coal production in the country, as production plummeted to less than 100,000 tonnes in the 1980s as a result of the war.

The discovery of petroleum and the advent of gas-powered engines and machines in the 1970s further affected Nigeria’s coal production in a negative way. Since then, the use of coal to generate power has been on the decline.

Vice President Namadi Sambo re-echoed government’s plans to exploit the use of coal and other energy sources in electricity generation.

“In view of the high capital costs and long lead times required to develop commercial power generation through solar, wind, nuclear and biomass, the Federal Government will focus its development efforts on hydro, coal and natural gas,’’ he said.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Musa Sada, also underscored the government’s resolve to fully exploit the potential of coal, while speaking during the inauguration of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office last year.

“According to him, “coal has been admitted into the nation’s energy mix as it would be used for coal-fired electricity power generating plants,’’ he said..

The minister also noted that coal could also be used for domestic purposes, particularly in the production of coal briquettes for cooking.

Sada, however, noted that some of the constraints limiting the development of the coal industry included inadequate financial resources to procure equipment such as drilling rigs, laboratory equipment and transit vehicles.

He also identified inadequate manpower development as one of the factors hindering the actualisation of the industry’s development goals and solicited increased funding by the government and stakeholders to aid the development of the coal sector.

Analysts say that tangible efforts should be directed at stimulating coal development and utilisation in pragmatic ways, adding that the country’s vast coal reserves underscore the need for such action.

For instance,  the former Minister of Minister Mines and Steel Development, Mrs Deziani Alison-Madueke, said that Nigeria had estimated coal reserves of 2,734 million metric tonnes and inferred reserves of 391.42 million metric tonnes, located across the country.

“Coal remains the most important fuel for power generation worldwide and it will remain so for decades to come,’’ Alison-Madueke said at the 2009 ministerial news briefing.

“According  her, “industrialised nations of Europe, Asia and North America effectively utilise coal for their electricity-generating facilities and the Federal government has endorsed coal for the country’s energy mix, as part of its determination to meet our short-term and long-term energy requirements.’’

Efforts to improve electricity supply in the country through coal-fired plants, received a boost when Skipper and Energy Company, a firm operating in the Middle East, India, Switzerland and Ghana, announced in 2010, plans to establish two coal-fired power plants in Nigeria by 2013.

Mr Jitender Sachdeva, the company’s President, said that the plants, which would cost about N1.5 billion U.S. dollars, would be sited in Odu and Abocho in Kogi State, using coal from nearby Okaba and Ogbogbo coal mines where the company had concessions.

Sachdeva, who disclosed this in a media interview in Abuja in 2011, said that each of the coal-fired plants would have the capacity of generating 500 megawatts of electricity.

The Registrar of Council of Nigeria Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG),Mr Jonathan Ikeakor, expressed support for the use of coal-fired plants to generate more electricity for the citizens.

“The crisis bedevilling Nigeria’s energy sector at present could be solved by using coal as an alternative avenue of generating electricity in the country,’’ he said.

Stressing that coal could be found in about 11 states across the country, Ikeazor noted that the technology for coal power plants was not as complicated as that of gas plants, nuclear power plans and hydro power plants, among others.

The registrar recalled that Nigeria used to generate power from coal at Orji River in the 1970s, as the thermal plant there was generating electricity for the people of eastern Nigeria.

He stressed that coal could be used to generate electricity in-situ for neighbourhoods around the mining site, adding that such arrangements were cheaper than other energy projects as there would be no need to transport coal to other places for use in plants.

He also noted that the cost of establishing coal-fired plants was quite cheaper than building other plants like nuclear power plants and hydro power plants.

“All that is needed in building a coal-fired power plant is just to put in place transmission lines to national grid and distribute electricity to the public,’’ he said.

Ikeazor, nonetheless, stressed that coal mining and uses could only thrive in the nation, if the government resolved to give it the priority attention it deserved.

He said that foreign entrepreneurs would be encouraged to invest in Nigeria’s coal sector if it was fully developed like those of Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa.

He said that apart from its use in power generation, several products could also be derived from coal, adding that it could be used for domestic purposes such as cooking food and fuel for pressing irons.

“Once you can show investors that you have coal, lead or zinc in commercial quantities they will show interest,’’ he said.

The President of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), Mr Akin George, said that Nigeria’s sub-bituminous coals and lignite were among the best in the world because of their low ash, low sulphur, and high calorific values.

George, who said this at the 7th annual NMGS series held in Abuja last year, stressed that the country’s coal, apart from its high export potential, could be used to generate electricity and produce smokeless coal briquettes for cooking.

He lamented  that Nigeria was no longer producing coal due to factors such as the dearth of the enabling infrastructure and the flooding of the underground Onyeama and Opara mines.

George stressed that foreign investors had lost interest in the development of the country’s coal resources partly because of the deficient infrastructure and the lack of adequate and reliable data for investment purposes.

He noted that Nigeria lost the opportunity presented by the Ghanaian government in 2000 to execute its smokeless coal project at Enugu.

He recalled that instead of encouraging the use of the locally designed and fabricated coal briquette equipment in the project, the project executors opted for the importation of equipment from overseas countries at exorbitant costs which were not budgeted for in that year.

Re-echoing the sentiments of other stakeholders, George urged the government to revive the country’s coal mines and reposition the coal sector to attract potential investors.

Mmaduakolam, writes for News Agency of Nigeria .

Gregory Mmaduakolam