The federal government has said it plans to add about 2,483 megawatts (MW) of electricity from renewable sources to Nigeria’s electricity grid by 2015.
It however, explained that such growth plan was hinged on successful implementation of its renewable energy and efficiency policy, which draft was presented to stakeholders for review by the Ministry of Power.
Director of the Electrical Inspectorate Services (EIS) of the Ministry, Mr. Abayomi Adebisi disclosed this recently in Abuja when he made a presentation on the draft policy.
According to him, the 2,483MW target for 2015 is a short term mark, while 8,188MW and 23,134MW are medium and long term targets for 2020 and 2030, respectively.
The draft document was presented to relevant stakeholders in the sector for proper appraisal before it will be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for further actions.
In his breakdown of the renewable electricity generation projections in the document, Adebisi said renewable energy is expected to contribute about 1.3 per cent of Nigeria’s energy mix by 2015, while generation growths of eight per cent and 16 per cent were expected between 2020 and 2030 respectively.
He explained that large and small hydro power plants would contribute as much as 2,121MW and 140MW by 2015, in addition to the 117MW that is expected from solar power projects.
Adebisi stated that the policy was being developed with cooperation and grant from Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), an international enterprise owned by the government of Germany.
“We sourced for grants from GIZ, then we pooled over 30 documents from people who had once done something on renewable energy. We got a committee of experts to develop the policy, and the draft was approved by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE) in May 2013,” he said.
He noted that the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) had started developing a National Energy Policy (NEP) document last year, adding that the ministry was not duplicating the efforts of ECN.
“We are not trying to be a rival with ECN since they are working on NEP, but we are trying to move the sector forward with the national renewable energy and energy efficiency policy.”
The draft policy also proposed that a five-year tax holidays should be granted to manufacturers of renewable energy equipment and accessories, while soft loans with low interest rates and two years free custom duties should be given for promotion of domestic investments in the sector as forms of incentives.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who was represented by his Senior Special Adviser, Prof. Chidi Onyia had earlier urged participants to put in useful contributions to the draft policy to make it an attractive policy document for investors in the sector.
