By Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
The use of energy efficient bulbs and judicious power consumption can save the country N400bn, the Federal Government has said.
Government explained that if Nigerians embrace the use of energy efficient lightings, the country would have over 1,000 megawatts of electricity available for other purposes, adding that efficient consumption of electricity by switching off appliances that were not in use at any given time would also make power available for other better uses.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said it would cost the country about $2bn to build a power plant that would produce 1,000MW of electricity and stated that the government was working out a policy that would enforce energy efficiency across the country.
He said, “Can you imagine what it will mean if this policy we are working on comes up; that every home will eventually have solar power just for the lights? And then we switch to energy conservation by making sure that all the lightings in Nigeria are turned to energy efficient bulbs. If we do this, we will save a minimum of over 1,000MW if we all convert our lighting bulbs to LED bulbs.
“Do you know how much it costs to build a power plant that will give us 1,000MW? Now, if you include other ancillaries, the cheapest cost will be $1.5bn to $2bn. When converted to naira, you will be talking of nearly N400bn that we can just save if we convert to energy efficient appliances. So, one way of producing electricity is not to build power plants but to conserve the electricity you already have.”
On diversifying the power generation sources, Nebo noted that the country should not depend on gas alone for its electricity needs considering the incessant rupturing of gas pipelines by vandals.