Team Kaduna Polytechnic Emerges Champion During Sahara Alternative Energy Competiton

The “Sahara Light Up Nigeria Challenge” which is an initiative of the Sahara Group in the recently concluded second edition held in Lagos created a platform for young dynamic inventors with the zeal to proffer alternative and renewable energy sources that have the potential to enhance eco-friendly and sustainable energy supply in Nigeria as reported by This Day.

The challenge serves as Sahara’s contribution to the growth and development of Nigeria’s power sector where it has affiliates, and also a yearly event hosted by the Sahara Group in partnership with ENACTUS Nigeria. The Sahara Light Up Nigeria Challenge provides the opportunity for young minds to stretch their creativity as they seek to find solutions to the challenges affecting the power in Nigeria.

Young inventors in this year’s edition gathered with the aim of developing simple power models that can reduce production cost and encourage the extensive utilization of different energy sources to power schools and communities. Projects were received from 28 schools that participated in the event and Kaduna Polytechnic’s Renewable Energy Advancement Project (R.E.A.P) emerged as the winning entry in the competition.

The Kaduna Polytechnic team created a self-running hydro-power system that runs solely on the kinetic energy of water, the technology is made from locally modified and recycled parts to ensure that it is environmentally friendly and the energy produced is stored in a 75-litre enclosed water tank that houses a pump and other materials required to drive generation of electricity.

The institution will represent Nigeria at the Enactus World Cup 2015 scheduled to hold in Sandton Convention Centre, South Africa later in the year.  In a remark, one of the participants from the winning school, Gibson Emmanuel said that “we are excited about our performance and want to thank the Sahara Group for giving us a platform to express our abilities. With more support, we believe we can contribute immensely to efforts aimed at improving power supply in Nigeria”.