The Federal Government of Nigeria, states and private investors have invested over US $20bn on 20 new solar power projects, with an aim of boosting power supply in the country.
The new projects include: US $5bn Delta State utility-scale solar project, US $2.3bn University of Ilorin solar power plant, US $1bn FirstGate solar park and US $479m Shiroro project, Niger State.
Others include GreenWish partners plant, Motir DuSable Solar Power Plant – Phase I, Motir DuSable Solar Power Plant – Phase II, Panyam solar project, Nova Scotia power project, Dutse, Manchok Ranch solar power project, Kankia Solar Power Plant, Kaduna solar power project, Osun solar park, Kumbotso solar plant, Ekiti solar power plant, Nasawara solar power plant, Black Rhino-Dangote solar project, Sokoto solar power plant, Yola solar power plant, Adamawa, Kano solar power plant, Birnin solar power plant, Kebbi and Karu solar plant, Nasarawa.
According to Future Energy Nigeria, Northern Nigeria has some of the highest solar irradiation in the world. Solar power plants are environmentally friendly as they omit no carbon into the atmosphere.
“Solar power projects have a much shorter construction time than conventional plants. A number of feasibility studies have been carried out in the solar space in recent years. The best yields are in the Northern part of the country where the irradiation exceeds 2200KWh/m2, the Southern part of the country also has good yields in certain areas,” the report said.
Investment in solar power
“Investments in the solar space would mainly focus on building power plants and feasibility studies in areas with good yields,” the report further stated.
Investigations indicated that these and other plants are meant to enable the government achieve its 2017-2020 Economic and Recovery Growth Plan, ERGP.
The ERGP, a medium-term structural reform to diversify Nigeria’s economy, including expanding power sector infrastructure, was drawn based on the assumption that electricity supply would continue to grow, hitting 10,000MW by 2020.
