| CHEAP AND GREEN
Behold!
Nigerian who powers GSM base stations with soya beans bio-diesel
By Seun Adesida
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
 |
•Husainin Solomon
Photo:
Sun News Publishing | |
A young Nigerian, Husainin Solomon, has risen up to the challenge
to satisfy quest of the mobile telecommunications operators’ quest for cheap
oil in the country by producing bio fuel as a cheap and green alternative fuel
to power base stations.
Electricity in the country, both in urban and rural
areas is epileptic. Thus most of the over 6,000 installed base stations in the
country are being powered by generators, using prohibitive diesel.
Pilot schemes
to use bio fuel to power such base stations are already underway in Lagos. Soya
bean bio diesel fuel is being used to power a sub-urban base station owned by
MTN Nigeria in a six-month trial.
The pilot scheme is being funded by the
GSM Association Development Fund, Ericsson, together with MTN Nigeria.
Olabode
Sowumi, head of Corporate and Marketing Communications of Ericsson, West and East
Africa, explained how the bio-diesel process works.
"The bio diesel is
produced from crops that are rich in oil like groundnut, soya bean, palm oil and
so on. A local entrepreneur can buy excess of the crops from farmers and convert
the biomass into bio diesels, using special processing plant. The bio diesel is
then sold to the telecommunications operator."
Behold! Sustaining Solomon
has emerged as the first local entrepreneur to buy into the idea of bio fuel and
invest his time and money in the business.
Convinced of the value propositions
of the idea, Solomon approached Diamond Bank Plc, and the bank promptly invested
a whopping N20 million in the idea, under its Bright Idea initiative.
Solomon,
who spoke with Daily Sun in an exclusive interview, argued that
the bio fuel idea can help solve the hydra-headed issues of power supply in the
country.
Background
I had a brief working opportunity
in South Africa, working on a soya beans farm. The farm went a step ahead to roll
out a diesel refinery, using soya beans oil. I was lucky to be among the people
who installed the diesel energy, called Mopomulanga plant in South Africa.
Bio-fuel
from the plant is being piped directly into homes. The South Africans don’t
have our kind of oil, but they get their fuel from coal and now bio fuel.
After
sometime, I decided to return to Nigeria to start something on my own. Initially,
I started by creating awareness among local cooperative society, informing them
about the benefits of the improved soya bean seedlings I brought from South Africa.
While
I was doing that, I saw the advert of the Diamond Bright Idea and I approached
them and the bank bought the idea and that has culminated in an equity investment
of N20million in the Bio-Diesel idea.
Government
It
is good that Nigerian government is talking about Bio-ethanol, getting petrol
from cassava, maize and sugar cane, using the Brazil example. My take is that
if the Nigerian government is doing this to ethanol, they should not neglect bio-diesel
because it is another essential sector of the energy industry.
More so, it’s
cheaper and adaptable for modern engines. Both Ford and BMW motors have both come
to approve the use of bio fuel for use on their car.
I realise that energy
is the bedrock of any economic growth. Once there is energy crisis, the economy
is in trouble. This is why I am coming into the sector and I believe government
must support this initiative.
Solution to Niger-Delta problem
You
can imagine if Kogi is producing bio fuel oil, and Niger-Deltans are not likely
to continue to say don’t take our oil. With huge investment in bio-fuel
we can complement the oil producing areas without necessarily destroying or damaging
the soil.
Nigerian economy
Nigerian economy is ready
for this invention. Right now, the incoming president has been talking about energy.
He has no option than to decentralize energy. A village of about 600 people can
produce her own fuel from her feed stock, and put it into generator and it gives
them light.
Challenges
The major challenge is people
who may look down at the project because it’s a new sector. Nigerians are
used to the usual fossil fuel for long, so if you are talking about an alternative
source of oil it seems you are coming from the moon.
Another challenge
is in the area of regulation. In Nigeria, because we are not prepared for it there
is no sound regulatory authority that accommodates small-scale group. All the
same, we are working towards establishing an enabling regulation to encourage
such farming projects.
The market
The market is there,
two telecom giants have approached me for the oil, because they are having problem
fuelling their base stations across the country. So, what we are going to do is
very simply, get people to cluster around about 10 base stations and they produce
the oil and we put it in the generators and it will work. If not, it will be difficult
and one day we will wake up and they will not be able to run the base stations.
Fossil fuel and Bio-Diesel cost comparism
The technology
of producing bio-diesel is very cheap, so the cost of production is also cheaper
so bio-diesel is cheaper, relatively. We are not looking for gigantic plant; it’s
a room-size plant, with about 30 people to run the production process.
Diamond
Bank Bright Idea
Diamond Bank came in as equity partners in the project,
and that is good for us and that will afford us to do some basic things. Now,
we have passed the regulatory test, we can do bigger pilot project, and see adaptability,
acceptability and then enlighten others in the industry to know what we are talking
about.
The money given to us is not a loan, we are not paying back, but they
will be sharing in the profit, so that the Bright Idea project will continue indefinitely.
We will run the projects for the next five years, and we will pay them Net Profit
Valuation (NPV), at the end of the five years. |
