The Nigerian Government has begun moves to harness the renewable energy sources as a critical part of the nation’s energy mix, to ensure sustainable power supply to citizens.
The quest to harness the 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, the Chairman of NERC explained that efforts to accelerate the development of renewables in Nigeria is in furtherance of the government’s mandate to ensure that rural communities are connected to sources of electricity.
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According to him, the distributed energy initiative is in alignment with the electricity Act 2023, which identify local solutions as important tool in addressing power sector challenges. He also explained that the accelerating renewable energy is in alignment with the net zero aspiration of Nigeria.
He explained that working with stakeholders, the Commission is developing a comprehensive national electricity policy and strategic implementation plan which will leverage on 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.
“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.
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Speaking further, the chairman noted the the commission has embarked on several programs including the establishment of the Meter-Assets Fund as part of the multi-faceted approaches towards ensuring sustainability of the sector.
Garba noted that even though challenges in the power sector have been multifaceted and persistent, the Commission is confident of its resolve to innovate and utilize 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 indicates 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.
“Nigeria’s quest for accelerated scale-up of renewables and distributed energy will not be without challenges. However, we hope that our efforts, including deliberations in this summit, will provide the platform and necessary framework towards achieving improved energy access, enhanced energy security, inclusive growth, and accelerated access to electricity in this country.”
In his remarks, Yusuf Ali, the Commissioner, planning research & 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.
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These projects include: 7 solar-hybrid mini-grids, 8 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.
“The Commission also issued licences
for 30 RE sourced embedded and
captive generation projects between
2021 and 2024, with a total
nameplate capacity of 112MW,” he said.
For Godfrey Ogbemudia, 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.
Ogbemudia noted the continued partnership between the EU and the Nigerian government in promoting the adoption of renewable energy in its energy system since 2008, committing approximately £200 million in grant until 2020 on various projects focusing on policy, regulation, building the capacity of market participants and facilitating access to finance in both public and private sector.
“As of 2021, we have renewed our efforts to raise and fund further with £200 million primarily through innovative financing, technical assistance and energy infrastructure projects. This should translate into some 400 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity to be installed by 2027, benefiting over 5 million Nigerian citizens.
“The EU, through its co-funded program, has been providing technical assistance to the Nigerian Energy Commission since 2015 on developing robust legal templates and tools to facilitate the implementation process of renewable energy regulations in Nigerian countries,” he added.
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