The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, recently hinted that Lagos and Abuja airports alone spend over N1 billion monthly on energy consumption.
Keyamo stated that to cut costs, the federal government plans to go fully off grid for power supply generation into the airports. Keyamo explained that the increasing electricity costs have added to the financial burden on both flight operators and other service providers.
“We want to go full blast into off-grid power supply with these airports because that is the major source of loss of revenue at these airports. You have to run diesel when there is no flighty landing or anybody present there.” Keyamo noted that the high bills predated his tenure as minister but emphasised that such expenses cannot be allowed to persist under his leadership.
While he recognizes the high cost of energy, his priority is to secure more affordable alternative energy sources for the industry.
“The point is that energy costs a lot. Now, whether it’s fully accurate, it’s why we are doing an energy audit. I’ve inaugurated an energy audit. I won’t allow some of these things to happen under me without taking a second look at them.
“As I speak with you, an energy audit is going on now. Very powerful individuals called me not to look into it, but I stood my ground. I said it’s not cheap to get a source of power from here. I’m looking for a cheaper source of power. We can find cheaper sources of power,” Keyamo said.
Reacting to the development, aviation expert, Olumide Ohunayo, said the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over time has been passing the bill to the airport tenants, saying adoption of the solar system is a step in the right direction that will help reduce the burden.
He said: “I support the move of the airport going solar but there has to be a backup for the runway and the emergency lights. If the cost of operations goes down, it might reduce the charges for airlines and other airport users, which may also reflect in the reduction in fares and other services at the airport, because as it is now, it is very expensive. So, if going solar will make them reduce cost, all well and good.”
Ohunayo further noted that there is the option of the independent power supply for the airport disclosing that proposals have been submitted to FAAN in time past for an alternative power supply, but it has not been given much consideration, saying it’s important that the airports have their own power generation.
