T.M. Kayode

I planned to write this summary at the end of 2018 but for some reason I couldn’t post it. However, I think it’s still early enough in the year and it is a good idea to reflect on the growth of the renewable energy industry in Nigeria.

This blog post will highlight some of the major milestones in Renewable Energy growth in Nigeria for 2018.

Let’s dive in…

PICK 1 – COMMUNITY MINI-GRID PROJECTS

A number of community-wide mini-grid projects where flagged off in 2018. Remember my Post on the Mini-Grid site at Gbamu Gbamu, Ogun State.  Gbamu Gbamu was one of the sites commissioned in 2018. It would actually be a year old in February 2019. It is a Solar Hybrid Mini-Grid of 85KWp capacity, powering 487 households. The project was co-funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and the German International Development Agency, Deutsche Geseuschaft (GIZ) through the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) which partnered with the Ogun State Government and a private investor, Rubitech Solar. Read here for more details.

Some other community mini-grid projects from 2018 are Umon Island of the Biase Local Government Area located in Cross River State. The project was developed by CREDC. The project is a 50KWp capacity mini-grid, powering 253 households and 2 communities. Read more about it here.

Another Mini-Grid project commissioned in 2018 was the Angwan Rina and Demshin community of Shendam Local Government Area, Plateau State. The Solar Mini-Grid cost about 242.9 million naira and services about 2500 individuals. It consists of 2 Solar mini-grids of 50KWp capacity each. It was funded by the EU, German Government and developed by the Green Village Electricity (GVE). Read here for more details.

PICK 2 -SOLAR FOR SHOPS (REA PROJECTS)

Asides from community Mini-Grid projects, Nigeria also saw the commissioning of renewable energy projects for marketplaces on the Federal Government of Nigeria Energizing Economies Initiative. A number of projects are still in the “pipeline”. However, some of the projects that have scaled through phase 1 are – Sura IPP in Lagos, over 1000 businesses have been empowered. It is about 1.45MW in capacity and was commissioned sometime in October 2018. Read the full story here. Sabon Gari market, Kano, which currently powers 500 shops is 1 MW (read here) and Araria market in Abia state- For Araria market, I couldn’t get concrete information on the number of shops that have been energized. But there was definitely commissioning in 2018. For all of these markets, there are still more businesses in those markets to be powered, so, hopefully, we should see more of that in 2019.

PICK 3 – GRANT AND AWARDS

2018 was a wonderful year for all forms of Grants and money all over.

My turn will soon come.

Anyway, 10 companies secured the USAID and All on grant for 2018. The awardees were divided into 3 different categories: Mini Grids, Enabling Business and Solar Home developers. Under the Mini-Grid category, the awardees are Haven Hill Synergy, Prado Power, Solmenz engineering, Daryway Coast, A4 & T. In the Enabling Business category we have Auxano Solar, East Wind and Alyx while in the Solar Home developers category we have Creeds Energy and iKabin.

We will definitely see all forms of targets being met on these projects and more for 2019. I will give you updates as they roll out.

That’s all for my Renewable Energy review of 2018. It is not an exhaustive list and It is all based on my research and independent analysis.

Feel free to tell me if you would like to see any more reviews in the comments section below.

Enjoy!!!