Nigeria’s installed solar market systems now over 1million – NESG

The impact of investments in Nigeria’s solar market is beginning to be felt as there are now over one million installed solar systems that are adding over 1,500MW to support national power generation of about 3,500MW.

Kyari Bukar, chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group told journalists in Lagos on June 22, at the NESG Renewable Energy Roundtable in Lagos said over 1 million systems including rooftop solar, mini and micro grid have been installed in Africa’s largest economy.

“If on average each one is 1.5kVA, that is over 1,500 MW of power and there are over 3,700mw a bit larger systems that are either solar, wind or in Katsina, and several parts of the country.  So the conversation is bringing out results in the country and impacts are being felt,” Bukar said.

Industry operators who gathered at the breakfast meeting organised with support from the Heinrich Böll Foundation Nigeria, called for an overhaul of policy to remove entry barriers for investors.

The stakeholders also called for review of taxes and tariffs on solar infrastructure, with incentives to attract manufacturing of solar PVs and implementing policies to meet the electricity vision of 30:30:30- to generate 30GW of electricity by 2030 with 30 per cent renewable energy.

Experts say renewable energy has the capacity to create millions of jobs, adding that it will become cheaper over a lifetime. Unlike returns from investment in power from fossil fuels, returns from investment in renewable energy technology can forecasted over 20 years. At the same time, the investment will create new jobs throughout the lifetime of the assets.

“Several of these solar equipment are imported and there are so many charges, custom duties, taxes and levies which do not exists in other countries, slowing down the business in Nigeria,” says Segun Adaju, CEO of Consistent Energy and President of Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria.

Felix Matthes, research coordinator for energy & climate policy at Oeko Institut, a research institute on sustainable future based in Europe, who gave an address at the event, said the focus of policy and investments should be getting the value chain on the ground and creating workable business models.

“This will require structural changes and appropriate regulatory and market arrangements that calls for improving generation technologies and making them more decentralised.

“There should also be changes to the structure of costs, and structure of players to make them more diverse investors and operators with smarter financing approaches that will projects bankable and reduce investment risks.

“Solar has become cheap everywhere else in the world but there is discussion that it is still expensive in Nigeria, so we develop a methodology framework and carried out a research that debunked the myth that solar is expensive,” said Matthes.

While discussing the report produced by Heinrich Böll Foundation Nigeria with support from NESG, Matthes said the study entitled ‘Comparison of costs of electricity generation in Nigeria’ revealed that the costs of renewable energy, especially solar, are cheaper when viewed from the lifetime perspective.

ISAAC ANYAOGU