The Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) has partnered with some Nigerian Universities on research into renewable energy sources in the country amidst the global calls for just energy transition.
The PTDF’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau, stated this on Wednesday during a workshop titled “Agro Waste to Energy: Biodiesel Bedrock of Energy Sufficiency in Nigeria”, and organised by the PTDF Professorial Chair in Renewable Energy at the University of Benin, Edo State.
Gusau, who was represented by the Deputy General Manager, Strategic Planning and Documentation in the agency, Mr. Olayinka Agboola, said the workshop was to expand the frontier of knowledge based on findings of research work.
“Everybody is talking about energy around the world; to be able to do that, you have to look at the issue of renewable energy.
“That is why we have invested a lot of funding in this research work to see how to make use of local materials and available materials that can be used for renewable energy,” he said.
This step, the PTDF boss said, became necessary due to the complexity of the energy problem in Nigeria and the need to look at alternative ways of generating energy.
He said fossil fuel, which had been a source of power for Nigeria, was becoming expensive even though it is available.
According to him, the time has come to harness renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal among others.
In her address of welcome, Prof. Lilian Salami, Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin commended the PTDF for coming to assist the Universities with funding research.
“We are really grateful because it is one thing to have intellectual capabilities, it is another to have the assistance that is required to move it forward.
“If we join those two things together, society will be better for it,” said Salami, who was represented by her deputy in Ekhewan Campus, Prof. Buniyamin Ayinde.
In his keynote address, Prof. Ikuonase Emovon, of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta, said Nigeria was endowed with various renewable energy resources with the potential to change the narrative of power generation and consumption in the country.
These resources, Emovon said, included biomass, hydropower, solar and wind, which according to him, are negligible utilized.
“Renewable energy is the energy derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and ocean resources.
On biodiesel, the don said it is a commonly used type of biofuel, produced from renewable biomass of biological materials.
He said biofuel utilisation was environmentally friendly as they emit less carbon and, hence, credit less carbon in global warming
Corroborating the keynote speaker on the sustainability of renewable energy sources, Prof. Kessington Obahiagbon, the PTDF Chair Holder of the University, said biomass fuel was becoming increasingly appealing as a viable alternative for fossil fuels due to rising demand for clean energy, diminishing fuel stocks, and its contribution to lowering reliance on crude oil.
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