At least 376 rural communities have been earmarked to benefit from the construction of 5,000MW of solar power generation and 2,500MWh of battery energy storage power plants.
This followed the signing of a $10 billion agreement between Nigeria and the largest United States renewable energy company operating in Africa, Sun Africa LLC, for the construction of 5,000 megawatts of solar generation.
The project will be constructed in different phases across the six geopolitical zones and will provide clean, reliable, and affordable electricity to more than 30 million.
“ING Bank, US EXIM Bank, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and the Debt Management Office DMO, have concluded all the financial negotiations and are closing the financing terms for up to $2 billion,” a statement by Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu says.
To ensure a comprehensive approach to access electricity, the statement says Sun Africa is also implementing solar cabins and solar home systems, where the mini-grids are not economically viable.
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Shehu also noted that all the technical and financial due diligence activities for phase 1 of the project had been completed for the first five selected locations for the grid-connected solar projects of up to 961 MWp of solar and 455 MWh of battery energy storage.
The first phase of the project earmarked for the first quarter of 2023 include: Gwagwalada, FCT (143 MWp PV size and energy storage of 68MWh); Gombe, Gombe State (270 MWp PV size and energy storage of 128MWh); Lafia, Nasarawa State (350 MWp PV size and energy storage of 166MWh); Geregu, Kogi State (174 MWp PV size and energy storage of 82MWh) and Ihovbor, Edo State (24 MWp PV size and energy storage of 11MWh).
The rest are as follows: Damaturu, Yobe State (150MWp PV size and energy storage of 70MWh); Bauchi, Bauchi State (143MWp PV size and energy storage of 68MWh); Yola, Adamawa State (174 MWp PV size and energy storage of 82MWh); Dutse, Jigawa State (150 MWp PV size and energy storage of 60MWh); Makurdi, Benue State (168MWp PV size and energy storage of 77MWh); Katsina, Katsina State (150 MWp PV size and energy storage of 70MWh); Kaduna, Kaduna State (180 MWp PV size and energy storage of 80MWh); Kebbi, Kebbi State (174 MWp PV size and energy storage of 82MWh); Kano, Kano State (174 MWp PV size and energy storage of 82MWh); Ganmo, Kwara State (143 MWp PV size and energy storage of 68MWh); Akwa, Anambra State (143 MWp PV size and energy storage of 68MWh).
The agreement was signed at the US-Africa Business Forum by the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, and CEO of Sun Africa, Adam Cortese, in the presence of President Joe Biden’s Special Presidential Co-ordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, Amos Hochstein.
At the event, President Buhari said as part of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, Nigeria had set the vision 30:30:30, which aims at achieving 30 gigawatts of electricity by 2030 with renewable energy contributing 30 percent of the energy mix, and sought the United States’ support to achieve it.
