• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Biden’s clean energy plan opens opportunity for Nigerian off-grid companies

13 start-ups win $100,000 in All On/USADF off-grid energy challenge

There are new opportunities Nigerian renewable energy companies can leverage on from the administration of newly elected president of United States Joseph Biden, who has a vision of addressing climate change and launching a $1.7trillion clean energy revolution over the next ten years.
Nigeria is blessed with abundant renewable energy resources and also the biggest market in Africa for off-grid energy solutions and the second in the world after India, despite this, the nation still grapples with substantial electricity deficit with little or no investment in research and development to expand these industries.
For Nigeria’s growing renewable energy sector which is already a haven for investors and new energy companies, the new US president means big investments opportunities as Biden has pledged to invest $400billion into clean energy and innovation targeting “technological breakthroughs” to create new jobs and reduce emissions.

While research investments and tax incentives would also be offered for developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment, with a view to scaling up the technology and lowering the costs of deployment.

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In a victory speech Saturday night, Biden identified climate change as one of his top priorities as president, saying Americans must marshal the “forces of science” in the “battle to save our planet.”

Biden is also proposing a new research agency called the Advanced Research Projects Agency on Climate (ARPA-C) which would be established to accelerate the development of innovative technologies that will advance the energy transition.
Biden’s climate and clean energy plan could find many emerging Nigerian energy production and distribution companies who are providing solutions and attracting numerous green equity financing.
“The failure of Nigeria’s electricity, coupled with the continued improvements in the reliability and price of solar power, has created a gap for new green power operators,” Oluwatosin Ajani, a Lagos-based economist explained.
Stakeholders say that renewable energy will be key to Nigeria’s economy which needs quick and stable growth over a few decades if it is to create jobs for its 21 million unemployed citizens and lift 87 million people out of extreme poverty.

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