[War] Nigeria/USA: Foreign Relations/Everything you ever wanted to know about Nuclear, Solar-Thermal, and H2.

[lee.tarnow at utoronto.ca]

Foreign Relations/Everything you ever wanted to know about Nuclear,  
Solar-Thermal, and H2.
---
15 July 2014
Abuja, FCT (Nigeria)
HH Eheneden Erediauwa, 39th Oba of Benin, Edaiken of Uselu, Member of  
the Uzama, 3rd President of the Nigerian Fourth Republic
Crown Prince Ore-Oghene "Goose" Erediauwa
Pres. John Williams, United States of America
(and others)
---

"Father!"

Ore-Oghene "Goose" Erediauwa ran up to his father outside the cafe.  
Eheneden extended his arms and embraced him. The men hugged.

"Ób'ávàn, Ore-Oghene."

"Ób'ávàn, érhá," Goose replied with a smile, "It is good to see you!  
How are things?"

"Busy," Eheneden looked around the perimeter of the cafe. There were 7  
SSS guards with Chinese Type 03s. They should be safe, "I'm sorry I  
missed your birthday. It is a shame that you could not come back  
sooner."

"It is a shame!" Goose laughed. He had been busy as well. Nationals  
for judo, and wrestling, exams, talking to schools for next year, "But  
we have much to catch up on, and such little time. Shall we get a  
table?"
---

"...and with further investment in pure solar, efficiency looks to  
increase past 60%, to an estimated 75% in the next 20 years..."

Eheneden struggled to keep awake. He had eaten too much rice at lunch  
with his son, and was having to work on several coffees to even stay  
awake. He was in a meeting with his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adamu  
Ogwu, the Minister of Energy, Baba Odey, the minister of finance, Igwe  
Aja-Nwachukwu, the suits from ExxonMobil, and the kid giving the  
presentation.

"...Further more, with investment in technology from one of the Gen.  
IV nations, we could adopt HTE technology as seen in VHTR technology,  
for cheap generation of Hydrogen, say 42% efficient-"

"Hold on a second," Odey interrupted, "VHTR is nuclear. I thought  
we're talking about solar, and hydrogen?"

"We are talking about solar and hydrogen," the young man was Dr.  
Aberle Roth. He was a Ph.D. from Stanford, and a big name in renewable  
energy. He was a major player at EEStor, Maxwell Technologies, and  
AltairNano, among others, and did extensive consulting for  
Lockheed-Martin, and now Exxon Mobil Corporation, "VHTR is the  
predominant nuclear technology, as seen with PBMR, GT-HTR300C,  
ANTARES, NHDD, GT-MHR, AVR and NGNP in South Africa, Japan, France,  
Republic of Korea, Germany and the United States. However, what a lot  
of people don't understand is VHTR is Hydrogen. In fact, The GEN-4  
schematic concept for VHTR includes a Hydrogen Production Plant. Even  
if the leadership of those countries may not acknowledge it, they're  
producing hydrogen by going nuclear, whether they like it or not. The  
Chinese HTR-PM 200 MWe Shidaowan plant, in Shandong Province, was  
commissioned in 2013. They're already stockpiling H2 reserves. The US  
will be following suit by 2021 with their NGNP plant."

Eheneden was struggling to keep awake. He tried thinking about his  
son. He had accepted an athletic scholarship to Iowa - he would  
wrestle through college. It was not what Eheneden would have chosen  
for Ore-Oghene, but it was what he wanted, and there was little he  
could do with Goose over 11 000 km (6600 miles) away. Odey raised his  
voice,

"Alright, so nuclear is hydrogen, but what does this have to do with  
solar, and for that matter, us?"

"Sudan and Angola have the highest industrial production growth rates  
in the world, in excess of 20%. This is because of extensive  
investment from China. Nigeria, by comparison, by a vast growing  
economy, but a low industrial production growth rate of around 3%.  
This is hindered by an anorexic power grid, and inadequate  
production," the room groaned. This was an inconvenient truth,  
"Unfortunately, the Gulf of Guinea, only gets between 175 and 200  
watts per square meter per day of solar radiation. However, there are  
areas of the the Sahara that get 250, even 300 watts of solar  
radiation per square meter per day," Roth cleared his throat, "In  
Algeria, they have a surplus to the extent that they are able to  
export 6 GW of power to the EU, as an example-"

"But what does this have to do with hydrogen?" Odey chimed in.

"I'm glad you asked," was the response from Roth, "Hydrogen is  
generated through High-Temperature Electrolysis (HTE) in VHTR  
facilities. The initial problem with Hydrogen was that any existing  
nonchemical process for production had low efficiency. By contrast,  
HTE demonstrates 41% efficiency at 100°C, 64% efficiency at 850°C, and  
around 70% efficiency at 1000°C, the operating temperature for VHTR  
facilities," he paused for effect, "The Algerian Hassi R'Mel  
integrated solar combined cycle power station operates at around  
600°C." Roth gestured to the ExxonMobil suits in the room, "We have  
plans for a liquid fluoride salt multi-stage turbine system operating  
above 1100°C."

"So what does this have to do with us?" Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu chimed in,  
"You mentioned that we don't get as much sun as Algeria."

One of the suits from ExxonMobil raised his voice, "We have a working  
relationship with Angola, Nigeria, and Sudan. Angola doesn't get  
enough sun, Sudan did not want to work with us, and we do not have a  
working relationship with say, Algeria," he smiled, "As soon as we  
heard about your recent 'negotiations' with Algeria, we figured we  
could enter into a strategic partnership."

"What are you proposing?" The room turned to look at President  
Erediauwa. He hadn't said anything for the entire meeting.

"We estimate, at proposed efficiencies, a facility serving the whole  
of Nigeria would be around 750 square kilometres, the size of  
Guantanamo Bay, or about 7 times the size of the U.S. Naval Station at  
Guantanamo Bay. The value of land in the Algerian Sahara Desert is  
around $4500/sq. km. Find out how much they want, and double it. We'll  
pay for half," he had the room's interest, "We incorporate Pan-African  
Power, for generation and transmission. You own half, we own half.  
We'll employ your people, and provide the expertise. You
get jobs, money, and power."

"And what do you get out of it?" it was Igwe.

"You'll see."

---

Eheneden sat down in his office. It was 4:00 pm. The meeting had run  
over an hour and a half. It would be 9:00 pm in Washington. He picked  
up the phone.

John Williams, was settling down to read. Sci-fi was one of this  
President's acknowledged vices, and the fact that it had been how he'd  
met his wife was only going to add to his addiction. Tonight was  
"Starship Troopers."

The phone rang. Picking it up, he looked. WHCA's switchboard.

"Williams speaking."

"The President of Nigeria for you, sir."

"Alright, put him in on scrambled."

"Good evening, President Williams. This is President Eheneden  
Erediauwa of Nigeria. You may call me Eheneden. How is Washington?"

"Not bad, considering I just spent 30 minutes trying to convince my  
son that night time was for sleeping, not for practicing new sounds  
and trying to turn dad into a chew toy," John chuckled, the  
frustration of bedtime with his 10-month old now a bit drained by a  
few-minutes difference. "Call me John, Eheneden. And how's Abuja?"

"Hot." Eheneden paused for effect. It wasn't that good of a joke, "My  
children are grown, but every day is still an adventure with them. My  
youngest is in the country for his holidays, but he will be back in  
the United States come August," he looked at the clock, 4:01, "I  
discussed an entertaining proposition with the snakes from ExxonMobil.  
I think that you and I could be friends."

"Yeah. I've heard good things about his performance last season."  
Pause, hearing the bit about ExxonMobil. "Go on..." He didn't disagree  
with the characterization of EM's people as snakes, but it didn't do  
to say that openly.

"Power in the desert. An ambitious project, much like your Mojave  
Solar Park, but on a much grander scale. 35 times the size of Mojave  
Solar Park in fact," Eheneden chose his words, "It will require a  
water and hydrogen pipelines from Nigeria to Algeria, through Niger,  
the power station itself, electrical infrastructure here in Nigeria,  
transmission lines in Niger..." It was very, very big. "EM wanted to  
enter in on the endeavour 50/50. I would like to offer you a 25%  
share, 50/25/25."

"A quarter share for the US Government?" Williams tapped a note to  
WHCA to send the transcript to DOJ, and check if that was even -legal-  
for them to have. "I'll have to check with the lawyers, see if it's  
even legal for us to hold equity like that."

"That said...How much are you thinking it'd take, time and cost?"

"The estimates I have from EM and my people are 3 years, $70B US,"  
Eheneden grimaced. It was expensive, but they had the money, and it  
was an investment in Nigeria's future, "That's $35B to Nigeria, $17.5B  
to EM, and $17.5B to USA."

A whistle of surprise. "I can help you secure private funding, maybe  
bonds, but that sounds almost too big for me to pull off US Government  
funding. Good thing is, you've got a decent credit rating, and what I  
think I -can- do is guarantee part of the loans needed. A brief  
thought: Have you tried tapping domestic capital? It's a huge project  
- what might be best is a quarter- or half-share held by the  
Government of Nigeria, remainder by private equity funds like  
Blackstone, and then whatever share you bargain ExxonMobil down to."

Eheneden gave it a moment of thought, "Perhaps you are right. At the  
same time, maybe we could negotiate a deal for a smaller sum for your  
'participation.' As you are aware, we have proven oil and natural gas  
reserves... Would the United States be interested in an energy  
investment to alleviate pressure on your your strategic reserve?  
Perhaps $5B?"

"Over three years, I think I can squeeze five billion from Congress."  
Pause. "They're going to demand a lot on the human rights front,  
though. Much as AFRICOM and I may have understood -why- the anti-MEND  
crackdown was so harsh, even we squirmed at it. Congress will want to  
see progress to keep authorizing the funds after year one."

Eheneden thought on Muhammadu in Lagos, and the SSS, "Our men are  
capable, but trained in a manner that is unbecoming of them. They will  
require training, re-education. As well, we do not have American  
weapons on which to be trained," He thought on being told how to run  
his country, "Unless your men can use the (Chinese) Type 03 and Type  
11."

"I'll grant that." Pause. "I'm not trying to tell you how to secure  
your country...But understand that he who pays the piper calls the  
tune. Congress will call the tune...And it's hard to really say no to  
their setting conditions on things when, I guarantee, exhibit A for  
any opposition to US investment in Nigeria will be people tortured by  
the State Security Service. Would you prefer I lie to you and say  
there'll be no problems, then present you with delays later? Or can  
you at least commit to working with me on improving the standards
your security forces hold themselves to and act in accordance with, so  
that we can both say to Congress that their concerns *are* being  
heeded?"

"This is fair," More thinking. Eheneden had a compromise, "I want top  
men, though. Smart enough to learn immediately, or already trained on  
our equipment to the highest degree of competency possible. If you can  
give me that, you can retrain my entire army if you want."

"I'll deploy a Special Forces company to lead the effort, back it up  
with contractors, mostly former Special Forces themselves to advise  
your forces at the battalion level. Your police forces will also be  
trained by the US Army, the MPs. If you don't mind, quite simply, I  
think you just volunteered Nigeria's security forces to become an  
example on the African continent. I have no doubt it'll take a long  
time, but I think we can at least make your security forces something  
that could set the example for the rest of West Africa to look up to."

"I would like that very much, Mr. President," Eheneden smiled, "Tell  
me... What is Iowa like?"

"Flat. Lots and lots of cornfields. Winters are colder than anything I  
think your son is likely to have ever experienced. If he stops by DC,  
I know a few people who can help him get adjusted."

"I'll keep that in mind," he thought back on Ore-Oghene. He would buy  
him a parka. "That is very kind of you, President Williams. When can  
we expect your people in Nigeria?"

"2 weeks for the first elements."

"I look forward to inspecting them myself," That was productive. "I  
would very much like to meet you. Perhaps we can establish a formal  
visit, to discuss further business?"

"Would you be coming to DC, or would you prefer I come to Abuja?"

"Perhaps I shall come to DC, with my son, come mid-August," Eheneden  
grinned, "I very much enjoyed speaking with you John. Until we speak  
again."

"Until then, farewell."

---

Eheneden pressed the button for his secretary on the intercom.

"Dorothy, can you contact some people for me? I have some business to  
discuss with them..."

---

Actions:
1) Send envoy to Algeria, negotiating for land purchase in Algerian  
Sahara Desert near Niger border. Negotiate from $4500/sq. km.
2) Send envoy to Niger to discuss lease and licensing issues for land  
and transmission lines through Niger.
3) Contact The Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area  
(w00t family hookups), TPG, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Blackstone Group,  
etc. in regards to receiving Private Equity for modernizing Nigeria's  
electrical infrastructure as per discussed plan.
4) Make arrangements to receive US Special Forces Training Group for  
Nigerian Army and State Security Service.
5) Make arrangements for Presidential visit to United States of  
America for 2 weeks in August.