Govt seals pacts to provide 1700MW of electricity from solar, others

Govt seals pacts to provide 1700MW of electricity from solar, others

TO boost electricity supply in the country, the Federal Government has signed three different agreements with private sector operators to generate about 1700Mega Watts (MW) of electricity.

    THE Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were Tuesday signed with three different companies - Solius NGPC, Peoples Home Association and the Solar Force of Nigeria Limited.

   Speaking at the signing ceremony in Abuja, Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, stressed the willingness of government to work with the private sector to generate power from renewable energy sources.

   The Minister assured the investors of government’s commitment to improve power supply to Nigerians, making particular reference to rural dwellers, whom he said are largely deprived of  electricity due to the demographic nature of the country.

    Restating government’s commitment to expanding power supply to rural areas, he assured prospective investors of the administration’s support and encouragement

    He told the investors:  “We will do all that is needed for you to come on board in the granting of licenses, Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), among others.”

   Nebo also assured the investors of government support in securing land, while the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would readily deploy what they generate to the national grid, where applicable.

   Chairman of Solius Solution, Onu Eluwa, said his firm would establish a training school in Nigeria. He stressed that the company intends to provide 1000MW into the national grid but would begin with 100MW at locations to be determined by the Ministry of Power.

   Also speaking, Chief Operating Officer of Peoples Home Association, Rasaki Porbeni, explained that his firm would generate 500MW form solar power. This, he said, would be done in tranches of 100MW to five different locations in Nigeria. He added that the firm also plans to establish Solar Research Centres in Universities across Nigeria and generates 10,000 jobs in the country.

    On its part, Solar Force Company plans to will generate a total of 200MWs from solar energy into 200 different villages. Each of the villages, according to officials, would have one MW each and would be selected from six different states.

Source: The Guardian