CREN urges investment in embedded power generation to create jobs

The Council for Renewable Energy Nigeria (CREN) has urged stakeholders to invest massively in embedded power generation to stimulate job creation.
Chairman of CREN, Prof. Abubakar Sambo, who stated this in Abuja at the body’s yearly general meeting, explained that the system would provide a window for investors, communities, state and local governments to generate and sell or utilize power without going through the transmission grid.

According to Sambo, Nigeria needs to deploy embedded power plants around big cities that are having too much load shedding to open up range of activities and create jobs for unemployed Nigerians.He added that smaller towns and rural areas, especially those with economic activities should be given mini grid power plants and off grid power plants.

Sambo explained that the need to rely on embedded power plants, mini grids and off grid solutions became more imperative due to the fact that the current grid the nation is relying on could not take more than 7000 megawatts.

He however, disclosed that the body has submitted a proposition document to the government on how renewable energy can significantly boost the power supply situation of the country like it is doing in other developing countries of the world.

“We need to focus attention and discuss a little bit more and take a clear position and make submission to the government in the next few weeks because the government is looking desperately into this.

“While government is thinking on what to do regarding the sales of the 17 power plants entities to the private sector, we need to discuss this same issue while we are thinking of boosting the power so that we help advice government take correct decision for our dear country.” he added.Also speaking, President of CREN, Anita Nana Okuribido, who said it was wrong for foreign contractors to come and take up jobs that are meant for Nigeria engineers, charged young engineers on the need to step up and occupy the market.

“In CREN we do not believe that foreign contractors should come and take up our jobs, we are capable of deploying solutions through renewable energy technology and we really have to step up and occupy the market,” she stated.On his part, the President of West African Federation of Engineering Organisation, Otis Oliver Anyaeji, who argued that the conventional energy derived from hydrocarbons, petroleum, coals among others has been implicated in the big problems of climate change, stressed the need to move away from the energy sources to the renewable sources. Anyaeji also hinted that the renewable energy source does not pollute the atmosphere.