25 September 2014, Lagos – Global Business Resources, a consortium of international investors from the United States, are in Nigeria for discussion with officials of the Federal Government for the construction of two solar-powered electricity plants of 50 megawatts capacity each in Nigeria.
A statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the Deputy Director, Press, Ministry of Power, Mr. Timothy Oyedeji, said the two plants would be located in Kumbotso, Kano State, and Karu, in the Federal Capital Territory.
The Nigerian negotiators led by the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Mohammed Wakil, had earlier met the group in Bridgeport, Miami, US.
Oyedeji said the consortium’s mission in the country was to focus on developing actionable renewable energy generation strategy, using the abundant solar resources in Nigeria.
He said that in addition to the construction of the two solar power plants, the consortium also proposed to undertake Geographic Information System mapping for renewable energy sources in the country in order to facilitate rural electrification projects on a Public-Private Partnership arrangement.
The group has the target to develop a master plan that will fast-track 100 per cent rural electrification in the next five years and inform Nigerian officials that the project would leverage on resources from the President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative.
Speaking on behalf of the minister, Mr. Abayomi Adebisi, said Nigerians were excited about the initiative as the country needed power urgently.
While calling on genuine investors to take advantage of the need gap, he said the vast resources of oil, gas, wind, sun and biomass should be developed for power generation, especially now that the sector had moved from public control to be privately driven.
He said transmission leg in the electricity chain, which is now being managed by a private foreign concern, would soon be privatised to allow for more resources to flow into it.
Expressing optimism on the prompt delivery of the project, James Nicholas, who led the American consortium, said Africa had the most promising solar potential in terms of cost, adding that the US had developed cost-effective technology in response to pressures from Green movements.
Nicholas added that from the available information, the cost of 2.06 cents per kilo hour for solar energy was quite reasonable, adding that $106m would be required to fund the two plants.
– The Punch
