Precious Anga
Lagos — The Federal Government has commissioned a 3.3MWp solar hybrid mini-grid with 2MWh battery storage at Yakubu Gowon University, formerly the University of Abuja, in a major intervention aimed at improving electricity supply to the institution.
The project, commissioned on Wednesday, has a 3MW AC output capacity, a dedicated connection to the national grid and 388 solar-powered streetlights to improve lighting and security across the campus.
Implemented under Phase 2 of the Energising Education Programme, EEP, the facility is designed to provide more reliable power for teaching, research and other critical university operations. The battery storage system will support critical loads beyond daylight hours, while the grid connection will serve non-critical demand when solar generation is unavailable.
Minister of Power, Chief Joseph Tegbe, said the project would benefit 58,726 students and reduce the university’s reliance on diesel generators, helping to lower its operating costs.
He also urged students and the wider university community to protect the infrastructure against vandalism and promptly report damage to power facilities.
“This sustained investment is a testament to this administration’s constancy of purpose. Continuing a national programme through successive phases, bringing projects to completion, and preparing the next phase reflects the discipline that development requires,” Tegbe said.
Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, said the impact of the EEP should be measured beyond the volume of electricity generated, noting its implications for laboratories, research, campus security and institutional finances.
Aliyu said the government had established the Renewable Asset Management Company, RAMCO, to provide long-term management, maintenance and optimisation of renewable energy assets delivered through its programmes. He stressed that effective post-commissioning management would be critical to sustaining the project’s benefits and urged the university’s governing council to ensure the infrastructure remained productive.
The REA also established a Renewable Energy Workshop and Training Centre at the university to strengthen local technical capacity. Aliyu encouraged the institution to use the centre as a research hub for distributed energy resources and develop academic programmes and technologies around renewable energy.
The university project forms part of Phase 2 of the EEP, which covers seven universities and two teaching hospitals, while the Federal Government is currently implementing Phase 3. In April, the REA said Nigeria’s domestic solar panel manufacturing capacity had risen to 300MW from 120MW two years earlier, with a 3.7GW project pipeline under development.
