By Eben Enasco
ECOSMART Consortium, says a major portion of Nigeria’s energy demand, food security, and environmental enhancement is likely to be fulfilled sooner through an extensive supply of renewable power to remote areas across the country.
This follows the advancement of an Anaerobic Digestion (AD), based low-cost solar power mini-grid plant in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
The upswing at Jos is part of the ECOSMART Consortium project established to generate a faster and more efficient digestion system than what is traditionally attainable.
The ECOSMART consortium team is made up of five collaborators from the international community experts and five Nigerian professionals with the Energy Industry Development Initiative, (EIDI) being one of the Nigerian partners, and LEAP Micro AD UK the Lead Partner from the international community.
The plant according to a statement in a publication put out by the Energy Industry EIDI on behalf of the entire ECOSMART consortium, and made available to the press, disclosed the extensive networks, experience in strategic engagement, market research, business model development, stakeholder engagement, case studies, and dissemination activities across the board,
The added advantage, according to the statement, is the use of agricultural wastes as feedstock to produce biogas and fertilizer, upgraded in Plateau State, where the project relies on the circular economy model to maximize benefits for the community.
Hybrid renewable power generation is becoming increasingly versatile and appealing to meet load in both standalone and grid-connected modes with a typical example being the Ibiade community in Ogun state now bubbling where ground preparation has also begun in anticipation of receiving the first UK-built plant for the project in the coming months.
ECOSMART is funded through the United Kingdom Energy Catalyst Round 8 program, EC8, a program meant to address the need for clean, affordable, and secure energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
EIDI disclosed in the statement that the Jos plant is a technological breakthrough product of ECOSMART, that combines the novel benefits of converting agriculture wastes and solar to produce biogas for cooking, organic fertilizer in both liquid and solid forms, as well as electricity power solutions for healthy, Eco-Friendly & Sustainable Living.
According to the statement issued by EIDI, the Nigerian renewable energy enterprise partner, the Hybrid Plant runs on a co-digestion of combined fruit and vegetable waste, and cow dung of roughly 30kg solid per day which includes potatoes, banana peel, watermelon, cabbage cucumber, spinach, and carrot.
It declared that the daily biogas production at the Jos plant is pegged at about 4m3, which is about 4,000L, of gas and 120 L of organic fertilizer of which 20kg is solid.
The statement noted that the Solar PV is about 4.56 kWh with 12 pieces of 380w, the solar system produces about 6kWh daily and total battery storage is 400Ah, of which 20% is used to power the system,
The statement further revealed that the Jos plant has successfully connected about six domestic buildings with plans to connect another set of three commercial buildings.
The groundbreaking concept combines two sustainable technologies to produce energy that is currently connected to buildings that are not billed and therefore enjoying free energy from the plant for test and trial purposes according to customer usage experience.
Recall that Anaerobic digestion is a sequence of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen where the process is used for industrial and domestic purposes to manage waste and to produce energy.
The ECOSMART mini-grid technological innovation is focused on improving the lives of subsistence farmers living in rural communities that have no access to on-grid electrical power and experience a debilitating waste of farm produce with implications for low economic returns and eroded standard of living which is also aimed at aiding women and those on low incomes in rural and peri-urban communities, where 80m people lack access to electricity.
ECOSMART’s design will prioritize the use of locally available materials and robust, low-cost components to ensure affordability while targeting peri-urban and rural communities/businesses where lack of energy poverty is highest.
As part of the design, EIDI said the system will produce soil amenders and fertilizer in a ratio beneficial for soil management, supporting local, sustainable agricultural practices.
