Nigeria

Commercial and industrial clients across the continent are turning to solar amid fears ever more cash-strapped conventional electricity companies will be unable to invest in their creaking grids, an online event has heard.

The raised ambition of an already huge renewables-powered hydrogen project in the Southern African nations vividly demonstrates the hydrogen and clean energy potential of a continent which accounted for just 0.5% of the world’s new solar capacity last year, according to trade body AFSIA’s annual report.

Researchers have discovered that large-scale PV arrays could enhance the voltage stability of northern Nigeria’s electricity grid.

U.S.-based Husk Power Systems has installed six solar mini-grids in the West African nation and aims to build more than 500 by 2026 with the help of World Bank funding.

Two investors backed by the charitable foundations set up by energy giants have seed-funded the cash pot to lend to African solar companies, who will be able to buy solar kit cheaper thanks to the economies of scale offered by the aggregation of orders.

An initial 1.44 MW of solar panels this year appears to have impressed the Seven-Up Bottling Company sufficiently to persuade the business to opt for another 10.5 MW of arrays on its factories.

The move will encourage private sector renewables companies to be part of the national energy industry, a representative of the regulator told a recent webinar which considered how to accelerate clean energy roll-out in Africa.

With a rising chorus of voices calling for more solar industry recruits to perform the energy transition, Nigeria already has a skilled base of PV engineers and, with a little help filling the few gaps they have in their knowledge, the nation can step into the breach immediately, as Testimony Gabe-Oji, chief technology officer for Abuja-based installer Green Energy Spectrum, explains.

Solar energy is not only key to the energy transition and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; it is also a way to empower remote and rural communities that are isolated from easy access to electricity. Across the globe, distributed solar solutions are being implemented to improve the well-being of individuals, communities, and businesses by providing access to clean, affordable energy. Huawei technology is at the heart of many of these solutions, as the following case studies from Africa and the Middle East demonstrate.

Former start-up Husk, which originally based its business on renewables powered by rice industry waste products, has agreed to develop seven solar-plus-storage mini-grids across rural communities in Nasarawa state.