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Nigeria targets 30% electricity supply from renewable energy

Osinbajo inaugurates panel for review of Draft National Transport Policy

Nigeria is to source 30 per cent of the nation’s electricity supply from renewable energy by 2030, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said. Osinbajo stated this yesterday in a message delivered virtually at the commissioning of a 1.12MW Captive Solar Hybrid Power Plant at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.

The project was in consonance with the globally endorsed Climate Change Agenda and the government’s effort to connect more communities to offgrid power and reliable energy sources. The project, executed under the Energizing Education Programme (EEP), an initiative of the Federal Government, is aimed at providing 37 federal universities and seven teaching hospitals with captive energy solutions that will ensure sustainable and reliable power for students and faculty. Osinbajo said: “Renewables are the fastest growing segment of energy today and will certainly be a key economic driver well into the future.

“Indeed, Nigeria intends to have 30% of its electricity supply from renewables by the year 2030. Our future workforce, therefore, needs to be ready for this energy transition. The training centres constitute a critical additional benefit of this project.”

The Vice President stressed that the programme reaffirmed the government’s commitment to global best practice in transition to cleaner sources of energy in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. “These projects being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) are strategic to fulfilling our commitments to the agreement as they strive to reduce Nigeria’s carbon footprint.

“The leveraging of renewable energy technology is in line with the Federal Government’s mandate and related activities. Nigeria’s plan to reduce carbon emission by 20% unconditionally and 45% with international support by 2030, aims to limit the damaging effect of climate change,” he said. On the benefits of the EEP, Osinbajo said: “Already, 22,000 students and faculties across the country are connected to completed projects in Kano, Ebonyi, Benue and of course, now in Bauchi.

But apart from providing a reliable source of captive power for these institutions, each institution will have a renewable energy workshop and a training centre to provide training for students on renewable energy. “The project also entails the installation of street lights and the electro fitting of existing ones for better illumination and provision of security on the campus and its environs. And there is provision for on-the-job training for 20 female students undergoing STEM courses in the beneficiary institutions. The training focuses on the design and installation of various components of the project,” he added.

While commending the implementing agency, the REA for its hard work and resourcefulness in the implementation of the programme, the Vice President charged the agency to redouble its effort in “rolling out the Energizing Education Programme with speed and quality across the country.”

He acknowledged and commended the strong display of partnership between the Federal Min-istries of Power, Education and Environment, the National Universities Commission and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission in making the project a reality.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government, under the EEP, has inaugurated three solar off-grid hybrid power plants in three universities located in Kano, Ebonyi and Benue states. In August 2019, through the REA, the Federal Government completed and inaugurated the first plant under the EEP, a 2.8MW first solar hybrid power plant at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI) in Ebonyi State. The project also included lighting of 7.5 kilometres of solar powered street lights in the university.

In September of the same year, the Buhari administration commissioned the largest off-grid solar hybrid power plant in Africa at Bayero University, Kano (BUK). The project, which is providing students and faculty with constant electricity supply, also includes provision of 11.41 kilometres of solar-powered street lights as well as a world-class renewable energy training centre.

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