Whose Power?

Energy from the sun. Such a ubiquitous, inexhaustible power source, I took it for granted that, with the right technology, it would be accessible to all. My Renewable Energy Programmer internship with One Sky in Nigeria gave me the opportunity to realize that most power issues with solar had little to do with electricity. Importation problems, lack of local knowledge, and ownership issues played a much greater factor in the (non)functioning of the solar (PV) systems. I visited three organizations that had PV systems installed a few years ago to learn from their successes and setbacks, before I worked on installing a system in the One Sky office in Cross River State, Nigeria.


The first system was doomed before it was installed. The solar panels were brought from Canada and one was cracked in transit. The glass was replaced, but during the rainy season, water got inside and wrecked it anyways. The damaged panel was only functional for half a year instead of the expected twenty! Also, the person who installed it had never had any hands-on experience with PV installation and as a result, did a poor job on the wiring and didn’t ground it properly. One lightning strike later, the organization had to enlisted the services of a professional who got it working again, but there was no money to pay to get the wiring fixed. Thus the system still operates at only a fraction of its capacity.


The second organization had a solar system deep in the rainforest where having electricity from it was vital. Their manager understood the system, however he returned to the UK and without anyone else fully trained. This because a major problem when half the batteries needed to be replaced and since nobody understood the wiring accurately, the wrong half were replaced. This effectively damaged the old and new batteries.


The final office I visited also operated off the grid. The inverter, a key part of the system, hadn’t been working in over a year. I asked the staff in charge of maintaining it if they had checked the manual to see what the error message the inverter read meant. They hadn’t. When we did, we found that it was an internal problem that the inverter company in Canada needed to fix. But in the year they had waited, the warranty had expired. I could only imagine the frustration of having to operate an office with a potential power source just sitting there for a year. But why hadn’t the problem been diagnosed earlier?


I attempted to address these issues during the One Sky installation. From day one those in charge of maintaining and fixing the system were identified and included in the initial decision making, educational solar workshops, and the actual installation. Henry, a young, bright local electrician, volunteered to work with us to ensure the wiring and grounding was properly done in exchange for knowledge and experience of how to install PV - ensuring someone local would be capable of troubleshooting. A clear maintenance schedule and repair protocol was discussed, agreed upon by the whole office, then written up and posted.


But the question kept reoccurring: Whose power really was it? When systems cost thousands of dollars and the majority of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day? When there are no replacement parts available? When most of the equipment is still brought in from outside the country and not designed for the Nigerian environment? For the solar truly to be and empowering source of energy, the solutions are not contained in a single system.


That’s why One Sky also had me working with a nucleus of exceptional Nigerians committed to starting up the Council for Renewable Energy in Nigeria. Now, with the structure settling into place, the basics in infrastructure established, a short term vision and action plan laid out, and a strong spectrum of well-positioned supporters recruited, the Council for Renewable Energy is strategically placed to effectively lobby for appropriate renewable energy policies and strategies at a key moment in Nigeria. You can follow their progress at http://renewablenigeria.org.

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