Government introduces new building code for efficient use of electricity

‘130 million Nigerians are generating power individually’
• Power generation slumps to 55.5MW

Nigeria may be considering another code for construction of buildings to favour efficient utilisation of electricity as power generation in the country remains at a very low level.

Figures from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed power output slumped to 55.5mega watts (MW) yesterday.The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who spoke at the 13th Distinguished Electrical and Electronics Engineers Annual Lecture (DEEEAL) in Lagos yesterday, said Nigerians need to adopt more efficient ways of using energy, even as generation remains low.

Fashola said his ministry was drawing up another building code as new guideline for electrical and construction engineers to promote electricity efficiency in the country.

He said the new code would promote the usage of glass buildings to use day light illumination, artificial lightings, more widows and use materials that are capable of keeping the building cool when the weather is hot.

According to him, these can help the nation conserve between 1000MW and 2000MW, which is about 20 per cent of the 5000MW capacity.He noted that the Federal Government was vigorously pursuing the power roadmap and working to ensure that the Mambilla hydro power plant is completed to the benefit of Nigerians.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Oladele Amoda, enjoined the nation to adopt renewable alternatives to power generation.

He said: “The fossil fuels that we have in the country is exhaustible, and it would take another 30 million years to replenish, hence we have to look at renewable alternatives to generating power,”

According to him, about 81 per cent of the national population or 130 million Nigerians generate electricity through alternative sources to compensate for irregular power supply.

He said the World Bank’s estimate Nigeria’s electricity consumption per capital at 155 kwh , adjudged to be the lowest in Africa was considered to be conservative estimates because it did not capture self generation, which is practised by most of the citizenry.

Amoda lamented that the 8.5 million consumers are demanding more than the current installed capacity, which leads to longer hours of load shedding while prolonged energy deficit in Nigeria has stifled all meaningful economic development in the country.

He linked the reasons for shortage in electric power to faulty planning; delay in construction of power projects; poor utilisation of generating equipment; plant outages due to weak transmission network and poor utilisation of equipments, among others.

He therefore suggested that the techniques of Demand Side Management (DSM) should be borrowed in Nigeria as a means to mitigate the demand-supply gap in the country.