Rural Electrification: NASENI Offers New Power Generation Solution As Agency Commissions Made-in-Nigeria Propeller Turbines Technology.
Inadequate power supply in Nigeria no doubt has assumed a worrisome dimension. Not only because sufficient power supply makes life comfortable for the citizenry but it constitutes a life-wire for any meaningful industrial advancement to take place in any nation amongst other several benefits. Poised Gto be a major player in ensuring that the nation is taken out of darkness, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has developed a local power generation called Propeller Turbine technology.
A pilot of propeller turbines project produced by NASENI,tested and running is presently installed at Awara Dam, Ikare, Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State and was commissioned at the weekend by the Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive, NASENI, Engr. Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna.
Propeller Turbine is not an imitation of any known technology anywhere in the world but wholly a product of ingenuity of the crop of NASENI Engineers at the Engineering Materials Development Institute (EMDI), Akure-one of the Agency’s development Institutes.
Professor Haruna who led the team of Managing Directors/CEOs of nine (9) NASENI development Institutes to the pilot project site expressed delight in the commitment of the engineers, who worked on the project, noting that it was a rare commitment as they worked assiduously to ensure that the project was carried out to completion.
The idea behind Propeller turbines technology model is to improvise where there are no waterfalls. Professor Haruna explained further that “even if you do not have heights, this technology enables water to be controlled through certain channels to propel the turbines that will generate energies which will eventually be converted to power or electricity. It is a simple technology, easy to handle or maintain and it is appropriate for rural electrification or the actualisation of “operation light up rural communities’ project by the Federal Government”.
“The propeller technology can work wherever there is any type of water flowing from certain works, cooling systems in industries, steel rolling, wherever there are water-works conveyors, instead of recycling, it can generate power from there, so there are different ways the technology can be applied”, he explained further
The propeller turbine technology is economical therefore affordable, he said, reiterating it requires no civil works or construction of dams. In propelling this type of turbines, what you need is just flowing water,” he stated.
NASENI CEO said with the pilot project, it has been proven that it is possible to convey water through normal flow in a pipe not requiring any height but only to control the volume and speed of water in any location in as much as you can control the water flow through a piping system or other channels that can make propellers work. “We are happy about this project from its conception to execution and it is a call on governments in Nigeria to seize the opportunity of the technology to shore up power generation resource for the country
Prof. Haruna, who lamented lack of adequate funding for the Agency over the years, said that he was elated that the work was successfully done in spite of the continuous under funding of the Agency established since 1992. He pledged a continuous support of the Agency toward achieving bigger capacities of the propeller turbines to ensure the initiative does not end as pilot demonstration project. He noted that the problem with similar research in the past was that successful research results were left at demonstration level. So this time around we ensured that a Nigerian community is using the technology as the case is with the propeller technology presently running in Awara Dam, Ikare, Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State”
He added “this type of contribution is what is needed for the progress of the country, we are really very happy for this contribution. My happiness is we are making progress in the area of turbines, the challenge we have with the cross flow turbine that was installed at Ikeji-Ile, Ijesha, Osun State is the construction of the civil works but the Propeller turbine model does not need any civil work”