Nigeria has opened discussions that could result to the setting up of her first-ever waste-to-power plant, with a private investment group led by Strancton Limited, OGN has learnt.
Discussions on this, OGN understands, were recently held in Abuja between Stracton and several government agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministries of Power and Environment, as well as Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
If discussions sail through, the plant could become Africa’s second large scale waste-to-power plant, the first being that of New Horizons Energy in Athlone, Cape Town South Africa.
Shortly after the meeting with the government, Chief Executive of Strancton, Edozie Njoku, stated that the plan was to convert Nigeria’s huge waste into power for economic development.
Edozie said the company’s research on Nigeria’s waste deposits indicate it would be sustainable to run a waste-to-power plant. He noted that countries in Europe have developed and were maximizing the technology to power homes and offices.
He said he made a presentation to power ministry in 2016, and it was agreed that relevant stakeholders in the sector should converge to explore the potentials.
According to him, the meeting was a follow up to the 2016 agreement and initiation of advance action plans for the convergence of an international investment seminar on waste-to-power in Nigeria expected to hold in June 2017.
The seminar, he noted would bring investors and project contractors to further assess and invest in waste-to-power in Nigeria, while Strancton advances its project plans with its foreign development partners comprising Inter Engineering and Solventure GmbH (Ltd) of Germany.
Edozie, however did not disclose the template for the plant, as well as its possible site, but said that modalities on these were being worked out.
“The raw materials – Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are everywhere in Nigeria. The technology we are deploying also produces fertilisers as waste product which is another value addition for us,” Edozie said, adding that a couple of government’s agencies have approached it for further discussion on deployment of standalone off grid waste-to-power systems for them.
Cities in Nigeria face significant difficulties related to management, collection and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), and this is following their increasing sizes and population with poor infrastructure development.
