Electricity supply is a major problem in Nigeria. Successive governments have tried to solve this challenge, which many believe holds the key to solving other challenges facing the country. Yesterday, the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) unveils a solar energy plan towards increasing electricity access, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU
It is known as the Power Africa initiative. It is President Barack Obama’s baby. Its aim is to improve electricity access in Africa, of which the United States sees Nigeria as perhaps the most important.
Yesterday, as President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States was wrapped up, the United States Trade and Development Agency provided a grant to Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project being developed in the North.
The significance of the deal is driven home by the fact that the North is said to enjoy about one per cent of the power supply in the country.
Chairman, Nigerian Electricity regulatory Commission (NERC) Dr. Sam Amadi explained that the North does not have sufficient connection and the lines are weak, making the lines transferring power to the North constrained and only able to take 100 to 1000 megawatts of electricity.
Speaking in Abuja on Energy and Household poverty, at the Annual lecture of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Amadi said the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North.
Amadi said: “Today in Nigeria, there are many people who do not even have access to electricity talk more of the electricity bill and that number is close to 40 and above, people who have no connection whatsoever at all to electricity. So the first marker to energy poverty is access, to people who do not have access to electricity.
“Why do we not have access enough? Of course we are a big country and we have just 6000 or 7000 megawatts available capacity not supplied. The constraints to electricity is access and connection, even if we have today 10 to 20 megawatts of electricity many parts of Nigeria will still not have light because there is no connection to those places, that is why the government created the rural electrification agency.
“What we have been doing with the past is supplying transformers to low areas so if you put transformers to a community where the lines are weak, the lines cannot go. Today the whole of the North receives about only 1% or less than one percent of supply, why? Because the lines transferring power to the whole north cannot take, it is constrained, it can take maybe 100 to 1000 megawatts, the urgent work now is to finish the line from Calabar to Markurdi to free more power to the North.
“To see very clearly between electricity supply and poverty, the same part of the north is the area that has the largest indicators of poverty and it is still the same area that has the least supply of electricity, so the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North as a way of reducing poverty.
“Nigeria is poor generally but relative poverty we have more in the North, so what we are doing more as regulators is that we are looking at imbedded generation; you know that our networks are very poor; they are not good so even if we have 10,000 megawatts today on the grid, we may not be able to more than 1000 megawatts or above to the north so it is very urgent that we improve the whole network to the north, it is urgent that we use the next new regulation to provide more imbedded power.”
Commenting on the agreement signed for the solar power project, USTDA Director Leocadia Zak, who signed the grant agreement with Quaint’s President, Mobolaji W.Durodola, said: “This project is a great example of how the U.S. and Nigeria are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. By working together on projects like this one, we can ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy.”
Durodola described the deal as the tonic for the much-needed clean and renewable energy.
“USTDA’s support is a step in the right direction for the development of much-needed clean and renewable energy capacity for Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mr. Durodola. “Quaint is happy to receive this grant and is committed to adding value, talent and energy into the Nigerian power sector.”
Quaint, a Nigerian company specifically organised to develop renewable power projects, is working with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), on a feasibility study to determine the best technical configurations for the project. 50 megawatts of clean, affordable energy is expected to be supplied Kaduna State. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital.
The feasibility study will include the development of initial costing for the project’s engineering, procurement and construction, as well as the preparation of an operations and maintenance
Tetra Tech will also provide training for Quaint employees to support the company’s capacity to develop and operate the project.
USTDA Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Enoh Titilayo Ebong, who oversees the operations of the agency and manages staff responsible for developing and executing USTDA’s program activities, summed up the importance of the deal in an article released yesterday titled Investing in Nigeria’s future.
He said: “When I was growing up in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, my father used to say that his future was in his past. In other words, you can never know how what happens today might impact tomorrow.
“My father, Ime James Ebong, used to regale my sisters and me with stories about rising through the ranks of the Nigerian Civil Service after the country gained independence in 1960. As the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Economic Development and Reconstruction, he worked to coordinate foreign investment that could help build infrastructure and promote growth. He believed strongly in a global Nigeria, and traveled to the United States many times to establish partnerships with American companies.
“My father died several years ago, but I think of him often. I thought of him when I joined the civil service at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, a U.S. foreign assistance agency that does exactly what he did – collaborate with U.S. companies to craft solutions to development challenges in Nigeria and around the world. And I thought of him yesterday, when President Obama welcomed the new President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to the United States.
“Economic development will be the focus of many discussions during President Buhari’s visit: Working together to increase trade and investment between our two countries. Building business-to-business partnerships that can support sustainable development. Collaborating to increase access to electricity for Nigerians, most of whom live without reliable power.”
He continued: “Together, we are making important progress in all of these areas. Last summer, President Obama convened industry leaders from the United States, Nigeria and across Africa at the first U.S.-Africa Business Forum. And deepening our trade and investment ties will be an important focus of his trip to the continent later this week.
“Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to increasing these ties by taking a number of steps to collaborate with the private sector. When I first came to USTDA, the Nigerian government had recently begun to open up its telecommunications sector. We have been connecting Nigerian telecom companies with U.S. experts who can help them modernize their infrastructure. For example, we are currently helping Nigeria’s Main One Cable Company plan for the extension of a 300-mile undersea fiber optic network from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Through their work with a U.S. company, HIP Consult, Inc. (Washington, DC), Main One will increase the number of people and businesses with access to telecom services throughout the region.
“Because this model has proven so successful, we are adopting it to help our Nigerian partners privatize their electricity sector. In fact, we’re working across the value chain to bring energy to more Nigerians. As just one example, today we provided agrantto Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project they’re developing in Kaduna State. Quaint is a small Nigerian company specifically organized to develop renewable power projects. They will work with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), to determine the best technical configurations for the project.
“This effort will bring 50 megawatts of much-needed clean, affordable energy to northern Nigeria. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital. It’s a great example of how the U.S. and Africa are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative.
“By collaborating on projects like this one, we are helping to ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy. And we are helping to strengthen economic ties between Nigeria and the U.S.
“As both a daughter of Nigeria and a proud American citizen, I am starting to see how my father’s past shaped my future. His commitment to public service – and to Nigeria’s growth – inspired me to join the U.S. government’s efforts to promote development by leveraging the expertise and resources of the U.S. private sector. I know he would agree that, by strengthening trade and development ties today, we are helping to ensure a safer, more prosperous tomorrow. “
Perhaps with more of this sort of project, the country will join the league of major players in the clean and renewable energy circle.
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