Acting Director of Sokoto Energy Research Centre (SERC), Dr. Mahmud Garba, has called for patronage of its renewable energy products by government, institutions, organisations and lawmakers.
The SERC boss said the centre has various products that could be utilised by lawmakers and government for their constituency projects and empowerment programmes.
Garba made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, February 25, 20202 in Sokoto.
He said that the centre, established in 1982, has been engaged in innovative renewable energy and was the first institution to develop solar powered street lights in the country.
“We have had up to N2 billion worth of projects from lawmakers’ constituency projects in the past comprising street lights, boreholes and fabrication of energy saving cooking stoves.
“We ensure quality and standard projects as a focal centre in the northern part of Nigeria and we do not condone quackery.
“The centre ensures execution of services on right specifications in term of sizes and quantities,’’ Garba said.
He said that the centre produces solar powered electrifying facilities and conduct trainings on solar thermal technology, which is the conversion of solar energy to heat energy.
“The cost of electricity is increasing and the supply is unreliable, the use of fuel like gasoline in our generators contributes to the build-up of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“Solar thermal technology is not well harnessed to its full potential, as Nigeria and other sub-Saharan regions are blessed with solar energy resources,’’ Garba said.
The Acting Director said that items produced by the centre include; water heaters and cooking points, distillations points and dryers for harvested agricultural produce.
He stressed that over 40 per cent of harvested produced being lost due to poor storage systems could be saved using the dryers.
Garba said the centre had conducted series of trainings, with about 70 participants from government institutions and industries every session, aside students from Usman Danfodio University and Sokoto State University.
According to him, SERC is in active collaboration with ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and others towards conducting conferences and projects on renewable energy.
The Director added that the centre also engage in biomass energy activities, converting waste materials to useful energy and thus contributing to environmental protection and reducing radiation depletion.
On challenges, he said the centre has obsolete facilities and require sustained training for its staff to be in tune with modern trends in technology.
