9 Northern states to get 420mw solar energy

Abuja - The Federal Government is set to
provide 420 megawatts of electricity using
solar energy for nine states in the northern part
of the country.
The Secretary, National Energy Council, Alhaji
Ibrahim Njiddah, made this known at a
stakeholders meeting in Abuja on Monday.
Njiddah said the project would be implemented
under the Nigerian-German Energy
Partnership-Renewable Energy and Efficient
Energy Projects (REEPS).
The Federal Government in 2008 signed an
agreement with Germany to invest 20 million
euros to increase energy efficiency by about
6,500mw through a mix of power generation
sources.
Under the project, German Government is to
provide 500mw of solar energy to be spread
across the northern states of the country within
five years.
According to him, the pilot scheme, which is
expected to cover all the northern states of the
country, will commence in nine states.
The states are: Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue,
Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano Nasarawa and
Sokoto.
He said each of the states had indicated
interest in getting 30mw solar plant with the
exception of Kano and Nasarawa which wanted
three or four plants situated in different parts of
their states.
Njiddah said each plant would cost between 50
million and 60 million dollars.
The secretary said the project was borne out of
the desire to tap the abundant solar energy in
the northern part of the country.
He said the project was being implemented in
line with the Power Reform Act which stipulates
that 5 per cent of power generation must come
from renewable energy by 2020.
“It is in the pursuit of this that we now consider
that we can generate power from other sources
apart from conventional thermal power
generation.
“This is economically and environmentally
efficient and also serves as another source of
revenue for the beneficiary state governments
using renewable energy for power generation.
“It is also an opportunity for us, and especially
the tertiary institutions, to acquire skills in the
area of capacity building and expansion,
employment generation in thousands, wealth
creation, among others,’’ he said.
He said the project was based on scientific
investigation which indicated substantial solar
energy in the northern states capable of
stimulating economic growth and creating
employment opportunities.
The Chairman of the Infrastructure Bank Plc,
Alhaji Lamis Dikko, said the bank was
appointed by the Federal Government as the
transaction advisor and local financier arranger
for the project.
“Our role is to help the Nigeria-German energy
partnership to structure the project, find local
investors that will invest in the projects and to
ensure proper project management in line with
international best practice.
“We bring together all the developers who have
indicated interest in developing power plants
and all the state governments that have
indicated interest to have solar power in their
states
“We bring together all the stakeholders and
come up with a road map and choose which
project will be the pilot project,’’ he said.
Dr Jeremy Gaines, Coordinator, Nigerian-
German Energy Partnership, led other German
developers to the meeting.
Gaines said Germany was committed to ensure
that the northern part of the country got
adequate power supply through solar energy,
and assured that the project would be
completed within time.