SustainPower at Future Energy Nigeria
Sustainable Power Generation – best know for SustainPower and SustainSolar – was offered a place with the South African pavilion at the Future Energy Nigeria Tradeshow as parts of the DTI’s mission to increase South African exports to the rest of Africa and beyond.
Future Energy Nigeria (formerly known as the West African Power Industry Convention) is the largest and longest running regional power and energy conference and exhibition in West Africa. The event boasts an opening keynote address from leaders from the region, strategic conference sessions and a large trade exhibition.
Sustainable Power Generation sent Ames Martin, Head of Operations, and John Fadiran, their Project Engineer from Nigeria, to represent South Africa’s gas-to-power and solar power solutions. Says Ames, “The tradeshow was very well-attended, with private business owners and power project developers from all over the country in attendance. It is always exciting seeing the interest Africa has in clean, sustainable energy alternatives.”
Nigeria has an estimated 7GW of generation capacity, but only 4 to 5GW of distribution capacity, and a population of 180-200 million people. Says Ames, “There are thousands of villages across the country with only candles and kerosene lamps for lighting; however, the country also boasts a very healthy and well—developed virtual gas network utilising LNG and CNG. These factors make it an excellent candidate for a decentralised power supply approach, be it from solar, natural gas, or biogas.”
Continues Ames, “With SustainPower’s decentralised philosophy and approach to the design of equipment, building equipment specifically for remote access in the developing world, we are ideally suited to help local Nigerian communities get the power they need, in a way that empowers those communities and gives them the self-sufficiency they desire.”