Malawi eyes coal to power industries, Nigeria can learn from it

Malawi has signed a deal with a consortium of Chinese companies to build a coal-fired plant because its industries are energy hungry but Nigeria seems to ignore its own vast reserve of coal.

On August 31, two days before official opening of the 2018 Forum for China-Africa Corporation (FOCAC), Peter Mutharika, the president of Malawi met Chinese consortium of companies to discuss energy generation project and to build a coal-fired power plant at Kammwamba.

Coal supplies a third of all energy used worldwide and makes up 40 percent of electricity generation, as well as playing a crucial role in industries such as iron and steel, according to Paris-based energy think-tank the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Despite legitimate concerns about air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, coal use will continue to be significant in the future. Therefore, greater efforts are needed by government and industry to embrace less polluting and more efficient technologies to ensure that coal becomes a much cleaner source of energy in the decades to come.

While there is no official master plan to develop the coal market in Nigeria, heavy manufacturing industries, such as cement factories are turning to coal for their electricity needs. This is because it is readily available, reliable and requires less capital expenditure to mine amid pipeline vandalism and gas shortages, which jeopardise power generation.

Mutharika and his delegations met the chairperson of the China Energy Engineering Group Ltd (CEEC) the Parent company of the China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company; Wang Jianping and directors of the company.

Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company is the Chinese company that is to construct the 300MW coal-fired power plant at Kammwamba in Neno, with a lifespan of 30 years.

“We need the extra energy as soon as yesterday. That is why we are very serious about this project. If we have the extra wattage from this project, our economy will perform much better than now,” Mutharika said.

Malawi generates about 251MW of power and a paltry 10 percent of the country’s population is connected to the power grid of Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom).

Nigeria, Africa most populous nation’s long history of romance with coal as a major energy resource was cut short due to machinery and equipment failures, geographical and infrastructural weaknesses, human resource deficiency and lack of government interest.

At the peak of Nigeria’s coal age, production increased annually from 583, 487 tonnes to an all-time high of 905, 397 tonnes before 1960. After 1959, production decreased significantly each, until today no production is recorded on book. Nigeria still holds large coal reserves, estimated to be at least 2 billion metric tonnes.

Nigeria’s coal industry suffered a blow in the 1950s when oil was discovered. Up until this point, the Nigerian Railway Corporation was the largest consumer of coal in the country.

However, after the discovery of oil, the Railway Corporation began to replace its coal burning trains with diesel-powered engines. An additional negative impact came when the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria began converting its power generation equipment from coal to diesel and gas as well.

The Nigerian Civil War also negatively impacted coal production; many mines were abandoned during the war. Following the war, production never completely recovered and coal production levels were erratic.

Nigeria’s coal is in high demand because it is one the most bituminous in the world due to low sulphur and ash content, and rated environmental friendly in line with global campaign on cleaner source of energy in order to reduce negative impact of climate change.

The proven reserves of coal so far in Nigeria are 639 million tonnes while the inferred reserves are about 2.75 billion tonnes, consisting approximately of 49 percent subbituminous, 39 percent bituminous, and 12 percent lignitic coals.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the top 10 coal producers in 2016 were (MT) China 3,576, India 707.6, United States 671.8, Australia 503.3, Indonesia 460.5, Russia 365.5, South Africa 256.9, Germany 175.6, Poland 130.6, and Kazakhstan 97.9.

Most research work on Nigerian coals is focused on their usefulness in the metallurgical industry. The few research works carried out on Nigerian coals as regards power generation have not comprehensively characterised Nigerian coals based on the contemporary requirements of power plant designers and operators.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU