Nigeria plans 500MW of PV in joint German project

Oct 23, 2013 - Ben Willis - pv-tech.org

Nigeria is planning to deploy up to 500MW of solar power capacity across nine of its states in a joint programme with the German government, according to reports.

Citing a statement by Alhaji Ibrahim Njiddah, the secretary of Nigeria’s National Energy Council, during a recent stakeholders meeting in Abuja, AllAfrica reports that the project would be implemented under the Nigerian German Energy Partnership.

Signed in 2008 between the two national governments, this will see Germany support Nigeria to add 6.5GW of new power capacity, including renewables such as solar and hydropower.

According to reports, the project will focus on the Nigerian states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa and Sokoto.

Njiddah reportedly said each of the states had indicated interest in getting a 30MW solar plant with the exception of Kano and Nasarawa, which wanted three or four plants in different parts of their states.

Each plant is estimated to cost between US$50 million and US$60 million.

Nigeria is aiming to meet 5% of its energy demand from renewables by 2020.