By Adewale Sanyaolu
As part of strategies to achieve its Energy Transition Plan (ETP), the Federal Government, at the weekend, announced a 30 per cent target from renewable energy mix from 30GW by 2030.
Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, stated this at Powering Nigeria’s Energy Future held in Lagos.
He explained that in a bid to promote renewable energy penetration and off-grid solution, the Federal Government is about to commence the World Bank Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) $750 million facility to increase access to electricity for 2.5 million people through deployment of solar home systems and mini grids to households, MSMEs throughout Nigeria, educational and health facilities.
This, he said, is in addition to the recently concluded $550m Nigeria Electrification Plan which has bridged the energy access deficit by providing electricity to over 1.1 million households, MSMEs, educational and healthcare facilities in unserved and underserved rural communities.
‘‘We believe that the global shift towards renewable energy is not just an environmental necessity but an economic one. Nigeria is blessed with abundant renewable resources, and we aim to continue tapping into these renewable sources to diversify our energy mix, reduce our carbon footprint, and ensure energy security,’’.
The Minister noted that sustainable energy development is not just ensuring a stable power supply but involves creating an energy system that is resilient, efficient, and environmentally friendly.
‘‘It’s about utilizing our resources in a manner that meets our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is about fostering an energy ecosystem that supports economic growth, climate adaptability, and improved well-being of Nigerians.
Our journey to developing the sector infrastructure thus far has not been without its hurdles. We have grappled with issues which include unreliable gas supply and quality, inadequate generation supply, aging transmission network, inefficient distribution networks and recently a need for a diversified energy mix to achieve the Energy Transition Plan.’’
The Minister added that, in a world where energy is the cornerstone of all economic activities, Nigeria’s quest for sustainable development hinges on our ability to tackle the challenges within our power infrastructure.
He added that it is crucial to acknowledge the significance of sustainable energy development in our nation, saying For Nigeria, a country blessed with abundant natural resources, harnessing these resources sustainably is not just an opportunity but a necessity.
According to him, sustainable energy development for Nigeria is not just ensuring a stable power supply but involves creating an energy system that is resilient, efficient, and environmentally friendly which is about utilizing our resources in a manner that meets our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
‘‘It is about fostering an energy ecosystem that supports economic growth, climate adaptability, and improved well-being of Nigerians.
Although faced with these challenges, our resolve to overcome these issues has never been stronger. Our vision is clear: to ensure a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly energy supply for all Nigerians,’’.
To resolve the Nigeria power sector infrastructure challenges, he explained that government has embarked on several strategic initiatives designed to enhance sustainable energy development both in the short-term and long-term aimed at transforming our energy sector.
‘‘To address our generation capacity, we are committed to both enhancing current generating asset and investing in new power plants. Our focus is on harnessing the rich diversity of our natural resources, from hydro to solar and beyond.
Recently, generation capacity to the grid has been expanded with the addition of 700MW newly commissioned Zungeru hydropower plant. We have also secured Presidential approval to defray legacy debts to gas companies to allow efficient gas supply to the power sector going forward and a payment mechanism to address generation companies debts to ensure necessary maintenance are resolved and evacuation capacity optimization.
With this effort, we aim to not only increase our generation capacity but also improve the efficiency and reliability of our power supply.
To ensure the upgrade of our transmission and distribution networks. We are actively working through the Presidential Power Initiative on expanding our transmission grid to ensure it can handle the increased load from our new generation sources.
Simultaneously, we are supporting efforts targeted at modernizing our distribution networks to reduce losses and improve the quality of power delivered to consumers. In the last one-year, an additional 463MW transmission evacuation capacity has been added to the grid through this initiative.’’