The Apapa branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has renewed the call for greater commitment and investment on the part of the government and corporate organisations into renewable energy exploration in the country.
In his welcome address at a public lecture and induction of new members held on Tuesday at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Ombugadu Garba, chairman of the branch, said the public lecture was organised to address the fragile level of power generation in the country which reportedly stood at about 7,000 megawatts as at time of the report.
According to him, this is still a far cry for a country with a rapidly growing population of over 180 million, while power generation is declining proportionally.
Though the present level of power generation is the highest so far, it is not commensurate with the need of the country, he added.
He said the public lecture with the theme ‘renewable energy’ was therefore necessary to draw experts in the field of electrical engineering to technically dissect the renewable energy option, which is expected to translate into more power generation and additional megawatts to the national grid.
In his paper, Ibrahim Busari, the guest speaker, said electricity requirements of the country were increasing at an alarming rate and running ahead of supply.
The renewable energy solutions expert said conventional sources of power generation such as fossil, gas, hydro or thermal come with their own environmental challenges with heavy hazardous toll on communities as well as other social agitations and consequences.
It is important, therefore, for the nation to seriously consider the options of making far-reaching investments in non-conventional method of power generation such as solar, wind, clean biomass, and geo-thermal energy among others, he added.
The occasion also gave the branch the opportunity of recognising certain individuals for their contributions to the field of engineering.
The public lecture was rounded off with the induction of about 14 new members into the NSE.