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Showing posts with label May 21. Show all posts
Showing posts with label May 21. Show all posts

Sunday, April 6, 2014

How to start a power business in Nigeria by Onwuasoanya

In the beginning:
I had never before been without a job, so I was convinced I would find something.     While looking for work immediately, I went on a field trip with my wife to follow up   on a project my son had carried out for a science competition using methane from   landfills to power a fleet of garbage trucks. We visited the research facility Rutger EcoComplex and went to a landfill site that converted waste into electricity. I was so excited about the idea of solving two problems at once: Nigeria generates a lot of waste (70% organic) and has a huge shortfall in electricity production. With this solution, I saw myself as the knight that would come in and save the day.
On May 21, 2013 Atlantic Waste & Power System was born. The director at the EcoComplex introduced me to people who would partner with me to execute my projects. I dusted up my trusted Rolodex and reached out to people I knew in Nigeria. We were introduced to the State of Kaduna’s environmental protection agency and shortly after arrived in Nigeria.
Waste to energy was the craze, the only issue was that we arrived a little late to that party. Everyone wanted a waste to energy facility, but nobody knew how to fund the projects. Very few states had policies in place that made it possible to turn the facilities into revenues. The one state, Lagos, that had things in place was yet to generate electricity from land fill gas and every one you met there had already received a proposal and had completed a study.
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
Pix: A set of generating sets by courtesy: Christopher J. Onwuasoanya,