Abstract

The research work titled “Electricity Fluctuation and its Effects in the Buea Municipality” is aimed at analyzing the pattern of fluctuation of electricity with specific objectives which include; investigating the causes and effects of fluctuation and also analyzing some of the measures put in place by the population during a blackout.

Questionnaires were administered to the target population who were selected using the purposive random technique, and the data obtained were summarized into frequencies and percentages. Maps and photographs were used in order to show some of the causes and effects of fluctuation.

The result shows that population increase influences power fluctuation within the municipality. Thus, this study concludes that population increase has a negative impact on electricity supply. Since energy plays a major role in the economic growth of Cameroon, it is thus recommended that the government should build more dams in order to increase energy production in the country.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

Carl (2012), explains that energy plays an important role in the development of nations, a consistent energy supply is a major factor that triggers economic development. The development of many sources of energy in the past decades is a result of the role it plays in future growth and development. Energy is needed in all the economic sectors, the increasing demand for energy in many parts of the world had led to a crisis in the energy sector.

Throughout human history, man had discovered energy sources and used them to their advantage ranging from the simple task of burning wood for heat to the monstrous amount of power created from nuclear energy. Throughout human history, there had been the revolution of energy from one source to another. The consistent discovery of many sources of energy had led to the abandonment of some other sources of energy. This is because the discovery of other sources of energy is to meet up human needs.

Oil is one of the oldest forms of energy to have existed, it was gotten from areas with a lot of crude deposits which was known as crude oil, the crude oil is refined to produce petrol, natural gas, and kerosene. This refines oil was used to power electrical generators and vehicles like trains and it was also used to power many homes especially kerosene that was used for lambs.

China became the birth place of the earliest oil wells with a debt of about 800fits, the Chinese drilled these oils wells using expensive bamboos pipelines and use the resources for lighting and heating of homes.

The world’s largest petroleum deposit was found in the Ghawa oil field in Soudi Arabia, the increasing demand for oil as a source of energy in many countries around the world especially in the developed countries like Great Britain, France, Germany, led to an increase in the prices of oil especially when the production of United State oil began to declined which made reliance on imported oil began to intensify.

Oil was used both in rural and urban areas in order to power their machinery, thus the affordability of oil both by the rich and poor made it demand to increased. When oil could no longer serve the needs of the people, the population began to sort other means of power which led to the discovery of other sources of energy that could easily be transported, affordable and that could meet the demand and the needs of the people.

Oil began a popular source of energy because of its diverse uses that was considered to be easier to be used to empower most of the industries found in Europe and the United States. The increase in industrialization which requires a huge amount of energy led to the discovery of coal as an alternative source of energy.

Australian Atlas of minerals, resources, mines and processing centers (2012), assert that coal was an important source of power which was on a high demand, coal is produced from organic carbon. It is formed from organic matter found below the sedimentary rock.

Coal had been a major source of power during the 17th and 18th centuries, many coal fields existed which produced a huge amount of coal for the generation of energy mostly used in industries and factories. For example, the Chinese began using coal for industrial purposes, after some time coal became popular throughout the world.

Vast coal deposit was discovered in North America making intensive coal mining possible around this region. The demand for coal increased to an extent that it began to replace other sources of energy such as fire, oil, wind, and water and quickly became the main source of energy around the world. China became a major coal exporter to other countries around the world. With the discovery of coal fields in Britain and Germany, coal became a major source of energy in most of the industries in the developed world, especially in Europe.

In the 18th century, a huge deposit of coal was discovered in Canada which triggers industrial development in this country. Other countries like the United States had to discover huge deposits of coal around Florida the United State which made the demand for coal increased in many parts of the world. Around the 19th century that is the face of industrialization, the demand for coal as a source of power began to reduce because much energy was needed in many industries around Europe and North America since coal was so heavy, it was so difficult for people to transport coal in distance areas which could meet the needs of the people.

This had to slow down the demand for coal because of the huge amount of money or increase in the cost of transportation of coal in many regions around the world. Thus, Britain had to abandon many coal fields because the demand for coal had to fall to an extent that countries around the world especially France that needed coal to power her industries could no longer import cold from Britain thus, the use of coal and much cold deposit in Britain were abandoned as a result of the cost incurred in transporting this coal from the coal field to another region around the world.

Germany that relied much on coal as a source of power, had to develop many industries that needed other sources of power thus, the development of this industry which needed other sources of power had to abandon most of these coal fields because coal was no longer needed in most of the industries around Germany.

The coming into play of other sources of energy like wind energy which was much cheaper to develop and also to transport to other areas led to the abandonment of most of these coal fields because most of the industries around this period were using wind energy as a source of power so they could no longer depend on coal as a means or a source of power.

In Latin America where coal could no longer be used as a source of power because of the bulky nature of coal let to the development of other sources of energy and thus, the low demand for coal especially around the South East Asian countries contributed to the development of other sources of power because a country that depends on coal as major exports could no longer export coal to other countries thus, the country had to abandon coal because coal was no longer needed in many of these countries that needed coal thus, this led to the discovery of kinetic energy as a source of power in order to generate energy to many industries and houses in Europe and North America.

America institutes of physics (2013), explain that wind energy being a source power was use to produce kinetic energy to generate electricity in many home and industries in the United State.

The first wind mills were built in Persia and were used to pomp water grind grains. Around the 14th century, wind mills began to form the modern pinwheel shape in Europe. The increasing use of wind as a source of energy led to its expansion to other nations because it was very easy to be transported.

For example, countries that had low population density like Sweden belt many windmills with high energy production. In the United State, windmills were constructed in order to empower their industries, businesses, and even homes thus, America became the world’s number one producer of windmills because many windmills were constructed around the country which could generate more and more energy needed to empower the economy.

The construction of many windmills in the United State as a major source of power was because wind energy was a renewable source of energy. The construction and operation of wind turbines began to have an impact in the energy industries in countries around the world especially countries of Western Europe which could develop their own windmills to produce energy for their industries, due to the increasing demand for wind energy around the world, United State had to laid more emphasis on the potential of wind energy because of it uses thus, United State became the first country in the world that promoted the construction of wind energy especially in countries of the Latin America and Europe that depended on coal as a source of power and also countries that had a lot of energy crisis had to develop wind energy as a major source of power in order to provide energy to their population and to empower their economies because energy which is consider as a key factor for economic growth and development were to be developed in order for economic growth to take place thus, the development of wind energy had to see the lamb of light because of it numerous uses especially in all the domains of the economy.

With the coming into play, with the development of other industries that needed a huge amounts of energy as a source of power and because wind energy could not provide the required amount of energy needed by these industries triggers the development of hydroelectricity as the source of energy.

Wind energy was used to empowered small scale industries which needed little amount of energy but the development of heavy industries such as iron and steel industries, shipbuilding industries, aircraft manufacturing, and auto mobile industries which needed a lot of energy to operate it machines and wind which could not satisfy the energy needs of the industries led to a fall in the demand of wind as a source of energy in most of these industrial countries.

For example, Germany which had to develop many auto mobile industries and ship building industries needed a huge amount of energy to run these industries, unfortunately, wind energy which was seen as the only source of power could not generate the energy needed by the German manufacturing industries, these led to a decline in the demand for wind energy in Germany.

Also, Britain which belt ship building industries and aircraft industries that needed abundant energy and wind which was one of the sources of energy could not support these industries in Britain, thus, the quest for energy by these developed countries to empower their industries led to the discovery of other sources of energy in order to empower their industries.

United State that was the world’s number one producer of wind energy had to developed heavy industries like auto mobiles, ship building, and aircraft manufacturing industries needed enough energy to empower their home build industries, wind energy which was a source of power in the United State could no longer satisfy the needs of the people thus, in order to improve on the energy sector of the United State, they had to sort for other measures of improving their energy sector in the United State, this led to the discovery of other sources of power in order to meet the need and demand of the population.

Since wind energy could no longer satisfy the needs of the people, the demand for wind as a source of power began to decline in most of the countries of Europe and America, thus, the fall in the demand for wind as a source of power led to the development of hydroelectricity which they knew that could provide the required power needed in their home industries.

Williams (2003), said that hydroelectricity remains the most readily exploitable form of energy. It is considered to have the greatest energy potentials in the world which could provide the required energy needed by many nations. Hydroelectricity account for about 25% of the world’s energy reliance, the first hydro power plan to go operational was belt in New York the United State, on that same year, one of the world’s first commercial hydroelectricity plan went operational in Wisconsin United State.

From the evolution of energy, hydroelectricity could be seen as a major source of power supply because of its numerous advantages. For example, it could be transported from one country to another with a little cost which is why countries of the developing world export a lot of power to other neighboring countries because it can easily be transported. Hydropower had been developed in many parts of the world because it does not come with the kind of pollutions that other sources of energy like coal bring.

The United State of America had to develop hydropower because most of the energy which was required for economic growth and development in the country could come from this source. It was considered that energy is a source of economic growth and development and if such sources of energy are not developed probably, the economic prosperity of a nation will be affected negatively.

This was the reason why the discovery and the development of hydropower as a source of energy were promoted in many parts of the world. Today, about 95% of the world’s energy comes from this source which produces about 500.000mw of electricity in most of the countries in the developing world.

The expansion of this source of energy in many parts of the United State had influenced the development of industries, especially around the rural communities. Britain that relies on energy as a major source of power had to develop more than 78% of industries recently which uses hydroelectricity as a source of power, which is why many countries around Latin America such as Colombia export energy to the United State. the increasing demand for hydroelectricity in many parts of the world had led to the creation of many dams which could produce a large quantity of energy needed by most of the countries in Northern Africa and the middle east that does not have the potentials (giant rivers) to develop the energy sector.

This had led to the importation of hydroelectricity from other nations that are blessed with these resources. The increasing demand for hydroelectricity without the corresponding supply had led to the development of other sources of power in order to meet the demand. This had led to the discovery and development of other sources of power in order to meet up the demand. For example, in the United State, rapid urbanization accompanied by industrialization had led to increasing demand for electricity. Unfortunately, this energy sector cannot produce the required amount of power needed by the industries in the United State triggered the discovery of other sources of power which can serve as a substitute.

The high demand for hydroelectricity in recent years had led to increasing in voltage fluctuations, blackouts in many parts of the world. In order to address this problem, many organizations and private individuals had discovered other sources of energy that could serve as a means of power in the face of blackout or fluctuation.

The problems caused by hydroelectricity especially hindering economic growth and development in many parts of the developing world, had led to the discovery of other sources of power by many nations who are affected by frequent power cuts. Because of the problems caused by hydroelectricity, solar energy was developed to solve these problems.

Clark (2012), mention that solar energy is energy generated from the sun. the problem associated with other sources of energy such as on and off supply, voltage fluctuations, led to the development of solar energy for electricity generation. In 1860, Augustine Monchot developed the first solar power system to produce energy used in operating industrial machinery.

The development of this source of energy was because of its cheapest source of power, the introduction of solar power led to the development of other power stations around the world. For example, the world’s first solar power village was constructed at Papago India. The development of solar energy has helped to reduce the effect caused by hydroelectricity.

1.2 Problem Statement

The power supply is a major factor in the development of any nation, this is because it is the main engine that drives the economic activity of a country. The complete reliance of electricity is so great to an extent that a day without power could lead to both material and human lost. Irregular supply of power could be harmful to humans particularly if it is needed to save lives, this could lead to loss of lives.

Davis (2014), noted that the problem of voltage fluctuation is no just a new issue but it is a problem that had existed for a longer period of time. Cameroon energy system is faced with the problem of on and off the supply of power, this is because of the nation’s aging electricity system which is vulnerable to extreme weather events which often cause loss of electricity in our homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals.

The problem of power outages in Cameroon has increased to an extent that if one should measure both the material and human damage caused by voltage fluctuation, then one would be shucked on the effects caused by voltage fluctuation.

Power blackout is a plague to the population. This is because Buea being not just a regional capital but also a cosmopolitan city dominated by students and business operators that depend on electricity for their day to day lives thus, the frequent cuts of power has affected the population, thus hindering the economic activities of the city.

Population increase leading to rapid urbanization had triggered a high demand for power. Buea is a cosmopolitan city with an estimated population of about 200.000 inhabitants which comprises farmers, economic operators, and students whose activities required constant energy supply, the regular blackout experienced recently which most at times could last for about 9hours, within this period of blackout, most of the activities of the population are being disrupted especially businesses like sawmills, cold stores, and cyber café and other activities like studying are being altered like most of the students use power to carry on with their assignments, reading and even typing.

Also, during blackouts, since most of these sawmills, cold stores, and cyber café solely depend on electricity with frequent voltage fluctuation, most of these businesses are obliged to stop operating until when power has been restored. Thus, this problem of blackout should be underestimated because if something is not done as fast as possible to stop this problem, other serious consequences will surface.

In Molyko, on the 6th of June – 7th June, about10pm in the evening, the population observe a power blackout which lasted for about 12hours, also, on the 10th of June, the population of Soppo witness blackout which lasted for about 5hours. The reasons for these problems was because there was a transformer damage around the University Junction, also there was a transformer damage in street two Soppo.

This has caused the population to stay for hours without light. The month of May is a month which comes with a lot of voltage fluctuation in most of the quarter in Buea. Therefore, if something is not done by the government and officials in charge of electricity to stop the problem of voltage fluctuation within the municipality, more cases of blackouts will occur leading to loss of properties.

1.3 Research Question

The research question for this study has been developed in line with the problem statement.

1. What are the patterns of fluctuation of electricity within the municipality?
2. What are the causes of electricity fluctuation in the municipality?
3. How has power fluctuation affected the population?
4. How does the population cope during blackouts?