Mr Micheal Kottner, an expert in biogas, says sustainable biogas production is possible if the Federal Government can have the political will to put the legal framework in place.
Kottner, who is the Chief Executive Officer, International Biogas and Bio-energy Centre of Competence (IBBK), Germany, made this known on Friday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to him, even smaller countries than Nigeria are producing biogas at sustainable level because their governments give the support needed through legal frame.
“I see that you have high demand for electricity; but you only produce relatively small amount of electricity in Nigeria for such a big population.
“In Germany, we produce enough electricity from biomass than the whole installed capacity of Nigeria. In fact, Germany can pipe electricity from biogas directly to Nigeria if the legal framework is put in place.
“That’s a possibility and I think Nigeria has much better natural conditions for biogas; you just have to create now the political will and the legal conditions to make it possible.
“Countries like Tanzania, China, India have millions of other plants on community level and this can be developed in Nigeria as well on an industrial level,’’ Kottner said.
He said that the country has a lot of processing industries and restaurants that produce food wastes, poultries and other sources of biomass.
Kottner said the biogas technology had been developed in Germany for the past 25 years.
He said that with the kind of biomass obtainable in Nigeria, it was the most sustainable option for the generation of electricity for the country.
On how small families and communities can use the wastes generated to create energy without much cost, the expert said it was possible with collective efforts.
“In Nigeria, you have a lot of households and local cottage industries that can make communal plan to produce electricity at house hold level.
“Also it produces heat for such households to heat up water and there could be different application of biogas which is possible by just collecting household and animal wastes.”
Kottner, therefore, called on the government to build up the political will and legal framework that would make Nigeria a major producer of biogas.
Biogas is a renewable source of energy in the category of biofuels. It refers to gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen.
The anaerobic digestion or fermentation of biodegradable materials such as biomass, manure, sewage, municipal waste, green waste, plant material and crops are sources of biogas.