US based, popular electricity access provider, Husk Power, has launched ‘Sunshot’, a new electrification initiative in Nigeria.
The electricity access programme is targeted to reach two million people in select parts of the country in the next four years.
In a statement yesterday, the company said it is actually stepping up its initiatives to promote access to electricity in Africa.
To achieve this, Husk Nigeria manager, Mr. Olu Aruike, said the company plans to deploy 500 solar-powered microgrids. He explained that the installations are expected to connect as many as 400,000 households to an electricity grid.
“With over 90 million Nigerians living without access to electricity, Sunshot is a concrete demonstration that the microgrid industry is ready to scale up, and drive economic growth in rural areas with a resilient and carbon-neutral solution,” he said.
Sunshot programme is also expected to provide clean electricity to 8,000 businesses, 700 public clinics, 200 private hospitals and 100 public schools.
In the statement, Aruike said the initiative should help replace 25,000 diesel generators in Nigeria
Micro and mini-grids are among the solutions favoured by the Nigerian government to accelerate the electrification of rural communities and some peri-urban areas.
Micro and mini grids are mini solar photovoltaic power plants with battery storage systems connected to small distribution networks. They are easy to set up; whereas their solution is relatively inexpensive compared to diesel generators, which also have a negative impact on the environment due to CO2 emissions.
With the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), which is implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), mini-grids have been democratised. It means that anyone can acquire it.
Under this World Bank-funded project, Husk said it has commissioned six solar mini-grids with a combined capacity of 300kW. Also the company plans to commission 22 green mini-grids in Nigeria by the end of 2022.
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