Nigeria taps renewable energy for improved power supply

The Nigerian government has begun moves to harness renewable energy sources as a critical part of the nation’s energy mix, to ensure sustainable power supply to citizens.

The quest to harness renewable energy brought the government and stakeholders in Nigeria’s power sector together at the ‘Accelerated Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy Summit’ organised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in Abuja on Monday.

Speaking during the summit, Sanusi Garba, chairman of NERC, explained that efforts to accelerate the development of renewables in Nigeria were in furtherance of the government’s mandate to ensure that rural communities are connected to sources of electricity.

According to him, the distributed energy initiative was in alignment with the Electricity Act 2023, which identifies local solutions as important tools in addressing power sector challenges. He also explained that the accelerating renewable energy was in line with the net zero aspiration of Nigeria.

He explained that the commission was working with stakeholders to develop a comprehensive national electricity policy and strategic implementation plan which will leverage Nigeria’s abundant renewable resources while promoting energy efficiency and sustainability.

“The overarching goal is the provision of electricity to Nigerians. That is providing a conducive environment for businesses to thrive and job creation for our teeming youths. The thrust of power sector reform in Nigeria is the development of an efficient electricity market and the establishment of a regulatory framework that promotes private sector investments.

Read also: Nigerian government strategize on deepening renewable energy in Nigeria

“Accelerating the development of renewables, mainly in the power sector, is a clear indication that we acknowledge that Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, with a lot of sunshine, a lot of renewable sources of energy, including wind. But in particular, distributed energy sources is very important in the context of the fragility of our grid and also the need to ensure that our rural communities are expeditiously connected to sources of electricity,” he said.

Garba noted that even though challenges in the power sector have been multifaceted and persistent, the commission was confident of its resolve to innovate and utilise available tools to overcome these issues.

“The role of large-scale solar has been challenging for our country. I recall that recently the study financed by the World Bank in determining the size of the solar that we can interconnect indicated something well below 1,000 megawatts.

“Therefore, the initiative of the commission to consider embedded generation using renewables and distributed generation is very much in the right direction,” he added.

In his remarks, Yusuf Ali, commissioner for planning, research and strategy at NERC, said that the Electricity Act 2023, empowers the commission to promote the development and utilisation of renewable energy services and increase the contribution of renewable energy to Nigeria’s energy mix.

According to him, the commission has issued permits and certificates for 286 mini-grid projects between 2019 and 2023, with a gross installed capacity of

36.8MW.

These projects include seven solar-hybrid mini-grids, eight inter-connected mini-grids, 271 isolated mini-grids. He noted that the number of mini-grid approvals increased from an annual average of 6 between 2019 and 2020 to 84 approvals in 2023.

For Godfrey Ogbemudia, the European Union delegation, promoting renewable energy has remained a top priority for the European Union Global Gateway Initiative, which is a worldwide strategy to invest in sustainable infrastructure projects, with a special focus on Africa.