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Joy as PIND lights up fishing community

Life takes a new turn in a Niger Delta coastal community with a newly installed solar power plant, reports Yekeen Akinwale Akinruntan Banjo was 12 years old when his father told him of a future where the government would supply electricity to their coastal village. That day never came, he says with disappointment.

Life has returned to the fishing community since April 5, 2019, when the project was unveiled. Balogun Deborah, who owns a daily needs shop in the community, recalls how she and others relied on generator sets to power their homes and businesses.

 

According to her, she can refrigerate beverages and water in her shop. Her sales have improved since customers can now get cold drinks.

 

“Sometimes, the generator can be faulty and, for two days, we would struggle to fix it. But that is no longer our experience because we rarely use generators now,” she tells this reporter. Another women leader, Ojoetemi Akinruntan, says their expenses on generators have reduced from the day the power plant started working.

 

“Before, we would buy ₦2,000 ($5) worth of petrol, and by 8 p.m., the fuel had finished. But now, we sleep and wake up with electricity. I’m so happy with this experience.”

 

Christopher Francis, the owner of a single pump gas station in the community, says he has stopped relying on diesel generating  sets to power the station. “I have connected my station to the solar power grid since late last year,” he tells this reporter, adding: “It’s much cheaper to run the station on solar-powered electricity than when I spent about ₦50,000 ($120) in just one week to operate my business.”

 

The first phase of the 15kW solar power plant is deployed to a total of 26 entities comprising 16 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) such as refrigeration services, business centres, retail kiosks, fish smoking kitchens, and a petrol station; one private health care centre, and nine households around the cluster.

 

Anthony Gideon, who runs a business centre, has recorded more patronage and works longer with solar power. He says many who have to travel by boat to the local government headquarters at Igbokoda to make photocopies, scan, and type documents now patronise his business because the power supply is constant, unlike when he depended on generators. Gideon had considered abandoning the business because of the cost of fuelling and servicing the generating set.

“Now, I only subscribe to the power from the solar panel and enjoy constant power supply, unlike when I almost went bankrupt because of the cost of maintaining my generator,” he says.

This testimony is also true for the only healthcare centre in the community. It now operates throughout the day. “Before now, we used a generator, but now we are no longer using the generator based on the fact that A4&T  Company has given this solar power plant,” Mogbeju Nelson, a resident doctor at the facility, says.

 

“Due to power challenges, sick children and women in labour are taken to Akure, which is over 160km from here, and it’s a journey by boat. In the process, many die on the road because it takes at least an hour to travel on the river.

 

Now that the clinic is connected to the power plant, residents are visiting for treatment. “In the laboratory, you need electricity, and all the equipment in the hospital needs light 100 per cent, 24/7.

 

For example, you want to use an oxygen machine and need electricity. But here in Gbagira, we are no longer using generators. Let me put it that way,” he adds.

 

Inside the energy cabin

An energy cabin assembles photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries, and control systems on an enclosure that quickly becomes an off-grid electricity plant, with access points for electricity purchase and distribution.

The generated electricity is supplied to clients in a cluster, eliminating the extensive costs of establishing a distribution network.

 

The energy cabin becomes an enabling technology through energy storage, flexibility and modularity, explains Giwa, Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND’s) ATED manager. He  adds: “Because electricity sources and loads can be grouped and function as economic demands dictate, they are an efficient and resilient energy option that uses a localised energy carrier to supply and serve the local market.”

 

According to him, the energy project is based on a business model that sells electricity services and products through a community hub designed to fit the rural communities’ socio-cultural dynamics and energy demands. In its 2021 annual report, PIND Foundation said its access to energy project beneficiaries accrued ₦466.7 million ($1.13 million) in financial benefits and leveraged ₦83.6 million ($203,901) in private sector investments for A2E solutions.

 

Altogether, 2,070 persons, including 285 households and 360 businesses, gained energy access. By the end of 2021, the number of coastal community energy cabins grew from six to 15. Some communities – like Opia in the Warri North Local Government Area of Delta – enjoyed electricity for the first time, while others, like Ogheye, had the capacity of their minigrid increase from 20kWp (kilowatts peak) to 43kWp as more households and businesses subscribed.

For fish farmers in Sangana and Fishtown communities in Bayelsa, solar refrigeration hubs helped to reduce their post-harvest losses due to inefficient preservation methods such as smoking. They reported that the refrigeration system was more environmentally friendly than firewood  and found the process less tedious than standing over a fire.

Households and businesses also reported saving time and money, as they no longer had to rely heavily on generating sets. Residents were equally grateful for the absence of the noise caused by the generators, and they felt more secure at night, thanks to outdoor lighting.

 

For someone like Banjo, life is turning around for good in Gbagira community after the installation of the solar power plant. “It has been a long time since we have seen something like this. We don’t see such often here, so we are happy and grateful to A4&T,” he says.

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