MEDIATRACNET
Nigeria is to generate about 30 Gigawatts of energy by the year 2030, President Muhammadu Buhari made the pledge at a discussion panel on a Just Energy Transition at the ongoing U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.
Buhari used the occasion to outline the comprehensive Energy Transition Plan by his administration in response to the issues associated with climate change.
As part of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, the President said Nigeria had set the Vision 30:30:30 aimed at achieving 30GW of electricity by 2030, with renewable energy contributing 30 percent of the energy mix.
“In 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to develop a detailed Energy Transition Plan to tackle both energy poverty and climate change, and deliver Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 by 2030 and net-zero by 2060.
“Our Federal Executive Council approved the plan earlier this year and adopted it as a national policy,” the President announced.
Buhari told the summit that Nigeria intend to eliminate the use of petrol/diesel generators by 2060 and therefore needed to deploy renewables, particularly solar, at an unprecedented scale.
“For instance, the Energy Transition Plan requires that 5.3 GW of Solar be deployed annually until 2060 to achieve our targets,” he added.
The President stressed that the Nigerian government has embarked on several reforms in the energy sector of the economy, considered to be one of the best in Africa,
He disclosed that some of the reforms, which have positively impacted the energy sector in Nigeria, included those on mini-grid regulations as well as the integration of renewable energy into the national grid.
“Our aggressive power sector reforms have resulted in cost-reflective tariffs in the power sector for the first time since privatization.
“Under the Nigeria Electrification Project, over four million people have been impacted through solar mini-grids and solar stand-alone systems. With respect to hydro, the Zungeru hydropower project is nearing completion and will add 700MW in capacity to the grid,” the President said.
The Nigerian leader, however, identified the challenge of adequate funding to realise the plan and called for considerable financial and technical support to achieve the desired objectives.
“For instance, our analysis shows that delivering the Energy Transition Plan requires US$1.9 trillion spending up to 2060, including US$410 billion above business-as-usual spending.
“This additional financing requirement translates to a $10 billion investment needed per annum. Between 2000 and 2020, just $3 billion per year was invested in renewable energy in the whole of Africa.
“Consequently, the $10 billion per year target of our Energy Transition Plan represents a significant scaling of current investment flows and we need support from the U.S. to mobilise the needed resources.
“It is important to note that for African countries, the cost of finance and perceived investment risk remains significantly higher than for developed economies despite vast improvements in stability and governance,’’ he said.
For the country’s clean energy market to scale up, he said Nigeria and more broadly Africa needed concessional, low-interest capital-led investments.
Besides, he said the country believes the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan and the net-zero compliant investment pipeline his administration has developed was prime for a just energy transition partnership like the one offered to South Africa and, more recently, Indonesia.
Nigeria, he said was seeking support from the U.S. government to be included in the G7’s Climate Partnerships List for the co-creation of a Just Energy Transition Partnership.
President Buhari also called on U.S. businessmen and the global community to tap “into the innovation and potential returns in our enormous market which is yet to be fully optimized.”
The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in South Africa earlier in the year that he had an opportunity to set out President Biden’s new Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa.
“It’s based on a simple idea that we can’t achieve any of our shared priorities – tackle any of our biggest challenges – unless we do it together as equal partners.
“That’s true of every major issue we face today, and it’s particularly true of climate change. So, here’s how we’re addressing this crisis together,’’ he said.
He said Nigeria had set bold targets and robust regulations for methane reductions – the first country in Africa to do so – which could reduce air pollutants by a third and avert tens of thousands of deaths.
“Equatorial Guinea just raised its commitment to cut emissions by 35 percent by 2030.’’
Meanwhile, Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, says the ongoing $2 billion electricity grid maintenance, expansion and rehabilitation programme across the country would create 45,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The minister spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the 11th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Scorecard Series (2015-2023), organised to showcase the achievements of the Buhari Administration.
During the event, hosted by the Ministry of Information and Culture, Aliyu said the projects being financed by the multilateral agencies (World Bank, AFD, AfDB, JICA) were at various levels of completion.
In delivering the projects, he said the federal government leveraged the support of the various State Governors to resolve Right of Way (ROW) issues. He gave the example of the ROW issue recently resolved in Kumbotso – Dan Agundi in Kano, which he said, lingered for more than 10 years.
“We are grateful to the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, that has been supportive towards addressing ROW issues which have significantly slowed down the implementation of transmission projects,” he said.
The minister said they had repositioned the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) after a slow start, to begin to take delivery of critical equipment. He said accelerated orders for 10 Power Transformers and 10 Mobile Substations were placed, with a delivery schedule beginning Sept. 2022.
So far, he said, six of the 10 Power Transformers have already arrived the country, while their installations in various locations have commenced, with delivery of the remaining four expected between December 2022 and January 2023.
“The Mobile Substations are expected from January 2023 through April 2023,” he said, adding that a review of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry showed a much healthier industry than the government inherited from prior administrations.
He said the Buhari Administration executed the most successful metering programme post-privatization with one million meters rolled out in the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission were fundamental in designing and implementing this programme. We are perfecting plans for an additional six million meters under the second and third phases of the programme that will commence in the first and second quarters of 2023 respectively.
“The first phase of the programme generated 10,000 jobs in installation and assembly, and we anticipate over 20,000 additional jobs would be generated in the second phase. Both phases have sustainable financing structures.
“We are also establishing a Meter Service Fund that will allow for continuous metering in the NESI as a legacy of the Buhari Administration,” he said.
The minister assured that the Administration would bequeath to Nigerians 4,000MW of additional generating capacity by the first quarter of 2023 to bring total generating capacity to 22,000MW. (NAN)
