Sahara Group, an energy and infrastructure conglomerate, has said it is bridging the shortfall in Nigeria’s energy mix with bold innovations, social investments, and local capacity development.
Power inadequacy is a major impediment to growth in Africa’s largest economy, where four in every five people in the over 200 million population lack access to grid electricity and those that have are often at the mercy of perennial blackouts.
That has opened up a gap in supply and created an opportunity for a number of power firms, which are also reinventing energy initiatives to bridge the shortfall with several distributed power innovations that are smaller scale, lower cost, and quicker to market.
“The launch of gree’n’lectric, a wholly digital publication dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability in the power sector, will bolster Sahara Power Group’s resolve to seek environmentally relevant options and solutions in its operations,” Ejiro Gray, director, governance and sustainability at Sahara Group, said.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to BusinessDay Media Limited, Gray said Sahara Power, a Sahara Group company that connects over 30 million homes to power in the nation, considers access to clean, safe, and reliable energy as critical goals of the organisation.
She said: “Gree’n’lectric is one of the vehicles of sharing our journey to green, as we articulate our efforts and plans towards addressing global sustainability concerns. Our business daily impacts and is impacted by natural, social, and human capital interests on which the sustainability of our people and the planet depend.
“We believe that these interests must be tackled head-on with unwavering accountability and responsibility to provide assurance for a better tomorrow.”
She said Sahara Power’s commitment to protecting the integrity of the environment remained unwavering and generational through the involvement of young students and entrepreneurs in sustainability conversations and interventions.
Read also: Sahara Group tasks stakeholders on Africa’s energy transition
Gray said Sahara Power was exploring and investing in several renewable energy solutions to boost power generation and distribution mix, in a bid to ensure the company continues to “bring energy to life responsibly”.
According to her, Sahara Power entities, including Egbin Power Plc, Ikeja Electric and First Independent Power Limited hinge their operations on emission reduction, resource efficiency, business ethics, health and safety, as well as inclusion and diversity.
She said: “With the deployment of electric buggies and scooters, bicycles, and a robust walk-to-work initiative, Egbin Power has reduced the use of fossil fuel vehicles in the facility, cutting off the emission of 670,000kg of CO2 annually.
“We have also planted over 1,000 trees, cut paper consumption, saved 105kWh from reduced printing and continue to digitalise our operations to secure the environment. Ikeja Electric pioneered the first e-billing initiative in the power sector and has safety certifications that reinforce our commitment to sustainability.”
