' How Nigeria can leverage off- grid solutions to bridge electricity gaps'
Launch land, sea, air operational assets
WITH a population of about 120 million people living without access to reliable and affordable electricity, private investors in the clean energy space have noted that shortfalls in Nigeria’s energy mix can be addressed with bold innovations, social investments, and local capacity development.
Power inadequacy is a major impediment to growth in Africa’s largest economy, where four in every five people in the over 200 million population lack access to grid electricity and those that have are often at the mercy of perennial blackouts.
That has opened up a gap in supply and created an opportunity for a number of solar power firms, which are launching various renewable energy initiatives to bridge the shortfall with several distributed power innovations that are smaller scale, lower cost, and quicker to market.
To address this gap, the Managing Director of WATT, Oluwole Eweje, said the firm has in the last three years, gone from one mini- grid project site to over 60 sites; while also aiming to have at least 200 sites under management before the end of 2021. Our investment partners have invested over $ 4.5 million in the development, execution and roll- out of projects in Nigeria,” Eweje said.
He noted that WATT is a company that is not just interested in being a disruptor within the industry but “also about having a significant impact in the marketplace.”
With operations in Nigeria since 2018, the company's first venture into the Nigerian market was a minigrid project executed in Mowe Ogun state. After two years of blackout, the project provided power to a community clinic, two schools, and several houses in and around the community.
“Our unique selling proposition is that WATT will provide its client with reliability of power ( 100 percent uptime) with an affordable flat fee tariff. This ESCO model was the first of the kind for our client,” Eweje said. “It provided us the opportunity to showcase the abilities within our robust organization.”
After the project with the telecommunication tower provider, WATT also partnered with a financial services company in Nigeria, a development which led to converting off- site Automated Teller Machine ( ATM) sites from 100 percent diesel powered to 100 percent solar powered.
THE Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ( NIMASA) is intensifying efforts to protect, interdict and deter threats around vessels anchored in the Secure Anchorage Area ( SAA), off the coast of Lagos.
The Director- General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh disclosed this in Lagos during a courtesy visit by the Shipping Association of Nigeria ( SAN). He said the new security effort was encapsulated in the total deployment of assets under the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, also called the Deep Blue Project.
He said the deployment was on- going to provide security in Nigerian waterways and the Gulf of Guinea.
“We are deploying high- tech assets under the Deep Blue Project to not only deal with piracy and armed robbery in our territorial waters frontally but also respond to the increasing sophistication of the maritime crimes.
“The Nigerian Navy and NIMASA are partnering to ensure a high level of security in our waters. We are tying up all loose ends and very soon everything would become manifest and clear to stakeholders and operators,” he said.
The DG, who spoke in response to security concerns raised by SAN following the cancellation of the SAA contract by President Muhammadu Buhari and transfer of the responsibility for the area’s protection to NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy, said there was no security vacuum in Nigerian waters.
Jamoh said: “I can assure you that there is no security vacuum in our waters. From what I know, the SAA is more protected than ever before. The Nigerian Navy has recently deployed 14 warships to enhance security in the area and the wider maritime domain. Other assets, including special mission vessels, interceptor boats and special mission aircraft are also being deployed under the Deep Blue Project.