B&S Power Holding and Sunnyfred Global have sealed a deal to build a 200MW PV power station in Nigeria. Sunnyfred Global is a Nigerian investment entity, and B&S Power Holding is a Singapore-based developer of renewable energy projects. Greenplinth Africa, which serves as the promoter and strategic consultant of the project, stated via a press release that this PV power station will be the largest of its kind in the entire West Africa.
The 200MW PV power station will span across 304ha of land in Ashama, a village in Delta State. Greenplinth said that the development of the power station will involve several other entities in addition to B&S Power and Sunnyfred. These project participants will provide support in terms of design, construction, and financing. The agreement with all the relevant stakeholders has been arranged.
Greenplinth already held a press conference in late February to unveil the roadmap of the Ashama project. Besides cutting a substantial amount of CO2 emissions, the PV power station is also expected to supply electricity to local industries, create jobs, and improve public sanitation.
Greenplinth stressed that solar PV will be a major contributor to Nigeria’s electricity supply, which is still lagging significantly behind demand. Data from the World Bank show that more than 80 million Nigerians lack access to grid electricity. The dominant sources of energy in the country are biomass, waste, and fossil fuels. Many local communities that have electricity needs deploy power generators that run on fossil fuels. Obviously, these generators are not only inefficient and expensive but also produce a lot of pollution.
According to reports from Afrik 21 and other media outlets, Nigeria currently has around 12.52GW of grid-connected generation assets. Thermal power stations account for 10.14GW of that total, while hydropower stations account for 2.38GW of that total. The Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), which is implemented through the Rural Electrification Agency of the Nigerian government, is supporting private-sector investments in local renewable energy projects. Specifically, the government is pushing for the development of solar hybrid mini-grids and the installation of standalone PV systems in underserved communities. NEP is also backed by the World Bank. As for the development of PV power stations, very few large-scale projects have been launched in Nigeria.