Nigerian president approves wind power generation project

Jul 14, 2009 - BBC Monitoring

In an effort to further diversify Nigeria's sources of power generation, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has given approval for the commencement of an electricity generation project from wind.

National Planning Minister, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, stressed that the first in the series of wind power projects would soon take off in Katsina.

Although he was silent on the generation capacity of the project, he told a meeting of the national technical working groups meeting for Vision 20:2020, that the future was hinged on renewable and sustainable energy sources.

"Wind, bio-fuel, solar-photovoltaic, geothermal, solar-thermal, hydroelectric hold the key to energy. While we struggle with 6,000 MW by the end of 2009, we need to strategize for 60,000 MW needed for Vision 20:2020, sources and composition of such capacity, funding and necessary enabling environment for private sector participation."

Source: The Guardian website, Lagos, in English 14 Jul 09

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