Wale Yusuff, managing director-Nigeria, Wärtsilä, spoke to Samantha Payne at African Review during the virtual African Energy Forum to discuss flexible power systems
For the last 14 years, Wale Yusuff has been at the helm of shaping the energy and power sector in Nigeria. In his current role as managing director-Nigeria for Wärtsilä, he is helping to drive the company’s agenda towards a 100% renewable energy future by helping customers to transition their power generation from traditional thermal power plants to incorporating renewables and flexible engine and storage solutions.
African Review: How important are flexible power systems in changing the African energy landscape?
Wale Yusuff: The energy landscape is in transition towards more flexible and sustainable energy systems. We envision a 100% renewable energy future, with Wärtsilä leading the transition as the energy system integrator – we understand, design, build and serve optimal power systems for future generations. Engines and storage will provide the needed flexibility to integrate renewables and secure reliability. We help our customers unlock the value of the energy transition by optimising their energy systems and future-proofing their assets. We also develop and deliver solutions and services to help our customers maximise performance and profitability throughout the asset lifecycle. Wärtsilä has delivered 72GW of power plant capacity in 180 countries around the world, 7.4GW of this has been delivered in Africa and about 1GW of this has been delivered in Nigeria across IPPs, industrial and marine customers.
AR: Have you been in talks with existing power plants in Nigeria to integrate the technology?
WY: The majority of baseload plants in Nigeria are mostly gas turbine power plants. In the journey towards a 100% renewables energy future that we are driving at Wärtsilä, we think existing power plants should have flexible thermal power plant solutions. This will help to integrate renewables that can be quickly ramped up or down, depending on when the renewable energy resources are coming into the power mix and still maintaining grid stability.
AR: Could more be done in Nigeria, as in South Africa, through the REIPPP programme to encourage hybrid renewable solutions?
WY: The Federal Government of Nigeria has many renewable energy initiatives being led by the Rural Electricity Agency, specifically for universities, markets and communities, which are located in rural areas with no access to the grid. There are also many industries that are generating their own power in off-grid areas, which would be made easier if they installed systems to integrate the tariff and renewable resources together. Again, this is a solution that Wärtsilä can offer. Our GEMS software platform integrates energy storage, renewables and thermal generation assets as and when you need the different type of power generation.
AR: What needs to be done to improve on-grid power systems in Nigeria?
WY: Admittedly, the government has a lot of work to do in revitalising the grid. The transmission in Nigeria is the weakest link in the electricity chain and is not robust enough to transmit all the power that is generated. However, if the government centred its work on fixing the grid, there’s no reason why renewables could not be integrated in the future to improve its performance. I will also like to add, that, the government’s plans can only be implemented if there is significant transformation of the whole sector, with the private sector participating equally in the upliftment. The government needs to provide substantial financial incentives for new power projects and must also restructure the distribution companies to improve liquidity. Lastly it must counter the corruption and bureaucracy in the sector and ensure that generating companies receive complete and timely cost-reflective tariffs from the government. While these measures are difficult to achieve, they are the only way the sector can see any respite in the coming years.
AR: Are there any more modular block solutions on order for 2021 for the mining sector?
WY: This was an initiative that was launched at the Africa Energy Forum in Lisbon in 2019, and we are pleased to announce that we have had successful case studies of the solution being implemented already. We also have a couple of projects in the pipeline where the modular power block solution is being considered, one of which will function as an IPP at a thermal power plant for a mine in Mali. There is also another hybrid power plant at the Syama mine in Mali, which will have battery storage and solar PV integrated as well. The existing solution is equipped with four Wärtsilä Modular Block enclosures, each equipped with a Wärtsilä 32 engine.
AR: Do you think the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission's aim of reaching 11,000MW by 2023 is realistic?
WY: As an engineer, I believe technically, anything is doable, but it depends on the right policy and the enabling environment being in place. Until the frictions in the industry, such as corruption, the right pricing of electricity tariffs and the right pricing of gas are fixed, as well as a solution to the transmission grid problem, this will be a difficult target to achieve. However, the recent agreement between the federal government and a European energy company to help fix the transmission grid is a laudable step, and Wärtsilä, is open to this type of cooperation as well with the Federal Government of Nigeria to achieve this power generation target.
AR: What is the role of Wärtsilä in helping Nigeria meet this target?
WY: As a technology company, we have in our basket all the right solutions to enable this vision to be achieved but it will depend on what the policies will be. But we have flexible power plants in our portfolio. Nigeria has a lot of gas and we have efficient modular gas power plants, which can be grown in line with demand. The nation is also blessed with wind, solar and hydro. Depending on where these power plants will be and the energy mix. We have the technology that can integrate all this together. By doing this we will be contributing our own part in meeting this target of boosting the renewable energy share to 30% in a decade.
AR: How has Wärtsilä navigated the Covid-19 pandemic?
WY: The world has changed with this pandemic and has caused a lot of dislocations and even in some cases, business paralysis. To survive as a business in the new normal as it is called, we needed to evolve systems and approaches that were agile and resilient to adapt. As a company, our top priorities are the health and safety of our employees, customers, partners and communities, customer commitments and the best possible support for our customers and partners as well as business continuity and Wärtsilä’s long-term success.
From oil to power; getting to know Wale Yusuff:
- Place of birth: Kwara state, Ekiti LGA, in a town called Isolo-Opin, Nigeria.
- Place of study: B.Eng and MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Minna and University of Lagos.
- Further qualifications: MBA in Innovation, Growth and Digital Execution-Techniques for Building Category King Companies from Tekedia Institute.
- Previous company experience: Trained at one of the nation’s four refineries as a young trainee engineer before transitioning to the services sector in Nigeria’s upstream oil industry in business development roles. In the last 14 years, he has been involved in the energy and power sector in management positions in sales and market development in leading global technology companies in Nigeria that have shaped the sector positively.
- Key to success: Dedication, tenacity of purpose, never giving up, interpersonal skills and having a good relationship with management, and most importantly, his faith in God.
- Most outstanding career achievement to date: "Nothing gives me more joy than to know I played a significant role in changing the fabric of the power industry, especially in the industrial sector by helping companies switch from liquid fuel to gas to power for their operations. This has helped some of these companies reduce their overall production cost by about 40%, and hence has helped them not only to survive, but remain very competitive and profitable."
