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Power problems: Could solar solve Nigeria’s electricity woes?

Power problems: Could solar solve Nigeria’s electricity woes?

Hungry for energy, millions of Nigerians put up with noisy, smoky petrol-fuelled generators to power their lives. Could solar technology help?

An estimated 22 million small-unit generators are in use by Nigerians, and they plug a vital gap in a country that ranks 171 out of 190 nations in terms of access to electricity, according to the World Bank [File: Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]
An estimated 22 million small-unit generators are in use by Nigerians, and they plug a vital gap in a country that ranks 171 out of 190 nations in terms of access to electricity, according to the World Bank [File: Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]

Ilorin, Nigeria – On a recent Monday morning, Mathew Bello, popularly known as Matey, switched on the generator that powers his shop in the capital of Kwara State at exactly 9:28am. It sputtered for a second before roaring to life, coughing up clouds of grey smoke in the process.

Inside Bello’s multipurpose shop are places to watch television, play video games, get a haircut and fix a mobile phone. As David, Bello’s apprentice, transferred the shop’s fuse box from the utility grid — which was currently experiencing a blackout — over to the generator, the TVs lit up and hair clippers buzzed to life.

Bello set up the DSTV and PlayStation consoles and potential customers jostled for spots to charge their phones. The whine from the generator fluctuated as it balanced customers’ hunger for energy with the limits of its output.

On that day, Bello’s generator did not go off until 12am, after 14 hours and 32 minutes of non-stop work.

“Sometimes there’s NEPA light,” Bello told Al Jazeera, referring to power from the city’s electrical grid, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. “But it’s low current,” he said – and not enough to meet the power demands of his shop.

A petrol-powered generator sits outside a home in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, where people rely on the noisy machines to power their everyday lives [Olatunji Olaigbe/Al Jazeera]

Bello’s generator consumes between 17 and 27 litres of petrol each day, he said, which costs him between 2,500 naira ($6.08) and 4,000 naira ($9.72) by the country’s official exchange rate. Then there is an additional 1,500 nairas ($3.65) per week to gauge and change the generator’s oil. A mechanic comes for maintenance and repairs three times a month, costing at least 1,000 nairas per visit ($2.43) in addition to the cost of any spare parts.

All told, Bello’s monthly spending for his generator averages around 100,000 naira ($243.01) to 130,000 ($315.92). But his monthly earnings amount to 170,000 naira ($413.12) at most, and he is able to buy less each month as the prices of fuel, food and other daily necessities skyrocket.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria is dealing with its worst levels of inflation in four years. Bello is concerned that passing on increased costs to his customers would cause him to simply lose business.

Haircuts, video games and TV time are not considered necessities, meaning people will likely stop patronising his shop if he charges more. His story is just one example of the economic and human cost of Nigeria’s electricity woes.

Hungry for power

An estimated 22 million small-unit generators are in use by Nigerians like Bello, and they plug a vital gap in a country that ranks 171 out of 190 nations in terms of access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Nigeria’s grid has an installed capacity of roughly 12,522 megawatts, but due to poor infrastructure, it is only able to deliver around 4,000 megawatts most days, according to the US Agency for International Development.

As of February, 43 percent of Nigerians still had no access to on-grid electricity, according to the World Bank, and Nigeria loses $26.2bn annually (the equivalent of two percent of its gross domestic product) due to the lack of reliable electricity.

Along with the financial cost of petrol-powered generators are the noise and pollution they generate [File: Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]

To bridge the gap between supply and demand, Nigerians are forced to generate power in small units from off-grid sources, usually fossil fuel-powered generators.

Along with the financial cost of generators are health and environmental costs. Two out of three generator users in Nigeria complained of hearing impairment, according to data cited in a 2019 report (PDF) by the Access to Energy Institute (A2EI), a non-profit research and development institute working to advance the use of solar energy in developing countries.

“The noise is delirious,” Quadri Oladayo, a student who uses his own generator to read and work as a freelance photographer, told Al Jazeera. “Every time a nearby generator goes off, it’s like a part of your soul you never knew was missing returns.”

Most Nigerians are aware of more health and environmentally friendly options such as solar energy, but cost, quality and lack of expertise make implementing them difficult. That is why more investment in solar energy is needed, said Segun Adaju, the president of the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria.

“If $2bn is invested in the solar energy sector, most businesses can run comfortably on 8 to 12 hours of energy provision daily,” Adaju told Al Jazeera, adding that such an investment would also provide “room for industrial growth and confidence in the investor market”.

Solar potential

Nigeria gets between five to seven hours of sunlight daily, depending on the region. A 2019 report (PDF) by the director-general of the Energy Commission of Nigeria estimated that if one percent of Nigeria’s land area were to be covered with a solar technology of five percent efficiency, about 333,480 megawatts of electricity could be generated, which is “more than enough for the country”.

Experts believe that solar power in Nigeria is currently underutilised.

For example, Nigerians are likely to own a solar-powered torchlight, solar-powered fan and perhaps solar-powered refrigerator, but each comes with its own solar plate and energy generation unit, rather than plugging into a single solar generator capable of powering an entire house and every appliance.

A solar generator with the capacity to power all of those devices is barely available on the market and inaccessible to the majority of low- and middle-class Nigerians. A high-capacity solar generator can cost well above 400,000 naira ($972.05). By comparison, the monthly minimum wage in Nigeria is 30,000 ($72.90) naira. And even when Nigerians can afford them, there is still a dire lack of expertise to help people maintain solar-powered generators.

Cost remains a major barrier for Nigerians who want to switch from petrol-powered generators like this one to solar-powered generators, which can cost more than 10 times the monthly minimum wage [Olatunji Olaigbe/Al Jazeera]

And for business owners who have higher energy demands, cost is a major deterrent. For his part, Bello said he has considered solar energy many times but has been dissuaded by the price as well as the potential output.

“I’ve never seen a solar power that can power five TVs and three clippers,” he said.

Thomas Duveau, the chief strategy officer at A2EI, said the current petrol-powered generators are favoured by people because “they serve that energy demand”, and “they do it quickly and in the cheapest way possible – at least in the short term”.

But A2EI is hoping to help Nigerians make the move to solar, and has been working on the project since 2016.

To get a grasp on people’s energy needs, the group installed smart monitors on 300 petrol-powered generators in Wuse market in Abuja so they could monitor metrics such as energy output, fuel consumption, how long each generator worked and even the frequency of faults.

“We then used this information to construct our solar generators, making sure they can outperform the fossil-fuel generators,” Duveau told Al Jazeera.

But matching petrol generators’ output has only been part of the challenge.

“Our biggest hurdle has always been finance,” Duveau said.

Financial challenges

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit, A2EI shipped about 200 solar generators to Nigeria, which were priced at $700 per unit.

The pandemic delayed customs processing on the generators, Duveau said, and impacted the economy more broadly. Last year passed without A2EI selling the solar generators.

By 2021, the value of Nigeria’s currency had fallen to 411 naira to the United States dollar, with the black market value well above that.

The solar generators still cost $700, but that is now 288,050 naira — 22,000 naira more than when they were first shipped.

To deal with this issue, A2EI said it partnered with Nigerian banks and other financial institutions to provide subsidies and credit to help Nigerians buy its solar-powered generators. Duveau said they have also approached the Nigerian government for support, but have been met with no concrete response.

Renewable energy investments

In December 2020, the Nigerian government launched the Solar Power Naija programme, an ambitious project targeted to provide solar electrification to 25 million Nigerians who were not previously connected to the grid.

The programme plans to provide five million new off-grid or mini-grid connections and “incentivise the creation of 250,000 new jobs in the energy sector”, according to its website.

However, since the programme’s inception, the Rural Electrification Agency — the agency in charge of the programme — has so far deployed 100,000 solar home systems.

As the push to get solar-powered generators up and running struggles to get off the ground, Bello’s petrol-powered machine keeps on going, belching out grey smoke and incessant noise — just like his neighbours’ — and sapping his earnings in the process.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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Solar Power

Net Zero Homes, no electricity bills.

Good morning the subject today is Net Zero Homes / Zero Energy Homes.

What is a net zero home / zero energy home? The answer depends on who is answering.

The United States office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy defines it as “a zero energy building produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of nonrenewable energy in the building sector”

Renewables are defines as Solar, Wind, Hydro and Biomass.

In Nigeria the most common source of renewable energy is solar.

Since 2016 we have been a Net zero facility. We have 2 inverters. A 5 kw grid tied inverter with 2250 watts in panels and a 5 kw smart hybrid battery inverter with 5840 watts. We have a 10 kwh lithium battery bank. No grid and no generator (we might change that in the future)

We run normal home appliances. A large refrigerator, a small freezer, a 1 hp. water pump, a microwave, an air fryer, a hot plate a 1.5 hp. window AC, and 1 hp. split AC, lights, fans, printers, lap top computers, Alexa devices, internet modem, TV, DSTV decoder. A normal home. The split unit, the fridge and freezer run 24 hours a day. The window AC runs during business hours M-F on sunny days.

What is your net zero home experience? Please share. If you like reading this story and would like to know more, please email me at info@atlanticwastepower.com

#solar #renewableenergy #solarenergy #netzerohomes #zeroenergy

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Solar Power

How do the Chinese Products compare


Before I give you my opinion, I will lift something out of an article I read.

The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Chinese global shipments during 2020. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from China.

  1. Electrical machinery, equipment: US$710.1 billion (27.4% of total exports)
  2. Machinery including computers: $440.3 billion (17%)
  3. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: $109.4 billion (4.2%)
  4. Plastics, plastic articles: $96.4 billion (3.7%)
  5. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $80.2 billion (3.1%)
  6. Vehicles: $76.3 billion (2.9%)
  7. Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $75.6 billion (2.9%)
  8. Toys, games: $71.5 billion (2.8%)
  9. Articles of iron or steel: $71.1 billion (2.7%)
  10. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $62.3 billion (2.4%)

China’s top 10 exports accounted for over two-thirds (69.2%) of the overall value of its global shipments.

From the numbers they must be doing something right. Exports to the United States and Europe were $420 and $375 billion in 2020.

What are my experiences? You can get the best from China and you can get absolute rubbish from China. They have everything for everyone. In the 70’s Japanese manufacturing was the butt of everyone’s joke. If you wanted cheap transistor radios, TV’s, LCD watches you got them from Japan. Today Japan has become synonymous with quality products.
The first set if inverters we installed were crap. 
First we did not understand them, 2nd they were poorly made. We tried again and we got some value for our money. What we purchased served the needs that we were aware of.

click on the link to read the full article

https://mailchi.mp/ef873d74b932/do-chinese-products-compare-well-to?e=9066152799

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Solar Energy News

SOLAX Inverter Review

https://www.cyanergy.com.au/solax-inverter-review/

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Solar Energy News

We are now the exclusive distributor for SOLAX Power in West Africa

 

SolaX X-ESS $G

July 1st, 2021 SOLAX Power signs distribution agreement with AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD for West Africa (minus Ghana)

AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD is proud to announce the conclusion of a multimillion dollar agreement between AWPS Renewable Energy, and SOLAX Power. SOLAX Power, is one of the worlds most successful hybrid inverter manufacturers and has finalized testing on its new range for the West African market.

Hybrid inverters will ultimately change the face of Solar systems – they direct energy into your home during the day to power your main incoming feed and store the excess in your batteries. This allows you to reduce your utility bills and reduce the run time of your generator.

About SOLAX Power
A division of the Suntellite Group, our vision is to be a world leader in the development, production and sales of inverters that incorporate innovative technologies and state of the art capabilities, providing our customers the power to harvest nature’s energy.

SOLAX products are designed, tested and manufactured to the highest global standards. Proudly supported by more than 30 international offices with 24-hour, 7 days per week online service, our products are exported to over 60 countries via 200 distribution channels. SOLAX products come with international module certifications such as TÜV, CE, SAA, UL, MCS, ROHS and inverter certificates, VDE, SAA, EN50438, G83, G59, C10/11

About AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD
AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD provides clean energy. The company has changed the Nigeria Energy industry by providing lithium battery only solutions directly to home-owners and business for less than they spend on running their generators. AWPS Renewable Energy, LTD gives customers control of their energy costs and protects from inflationary costs of fuel and rising electricity tariffs. The company makes solar energy easy by providing, remote monitoring and maintenance of the solar systems. Visit the company online at www.atlanticwastepower.com and follow the company on Facebook & Twitter.

Tested and ready for the Nigerian Market

The SolaX power solutions are IP55 rated. Can be installed outside and are dust and water resistant. They have been SALT tested. If you live on the Island in Lagos, this is important. Your new investment will not corrode or fail due to the air quality. If you live in Port Harcourt, you don’t have to worry about soot getting into your inverter and causing it to fail. It comes with all the toys too. Real time, monitoring and an app for Android or IPhone to allow you to monitor your energy use.

Nigeria’s Best Warranty
The Solar X G-4 inverter comes with a 10 year warranty. Double the best warranty in the Nigerian Market today. The battery comes with a 10 year warranty, 10 years better that the best lead acid and up 30% better than the leading competitor in the Nigerian market today

 

Happy Birthday America.

 

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Solar Energy News Solar Power

Electrifying Nigerian Agriculture with Clean Minigrids to Improve Livelihoods

Electrifying Nigerian Agriculture with Clean Minigrids to Improve Livelihoods

A new Power Africa study finds immediate opportunity to initiate and scale the productive use of energy from Nigerian minigrids by electrifying three prevalent agricultural processing activities: rice milling, grain flour milling, and cassava grating.

For the hundreds of millions of people living without electricity access or poor grid supply, the ultimate goal of electrification is seamless integration of reliable power and income-generating activities that propel communities forward. Solar hybrid minigrids can provide cost-competitive and reliable service with plenty of power to run productivity-enhancing machinery to do just that.

In theory, these “productive use” activities can ensure steady sales for the minigrid company, allowing them to pay off their investment and then reinvest in bringing power to still more customers. In practice, most electrification efforts have focused on ensuring electricity supply, leaving electricity demand to grow organically. Today, minigrid loads throughout sub-Saharan Africa remain low, challenging companies, consumers, and development partners to stimulate the productive use of electricity.

In Nigeria, agriculture is the bedrock of the non-oil economy, employing two-thirds of workers and accounting for nearly a quarter of national GDP. While a sizeable portion of economic activity, agriculture contributed to just 2.4 percent of Nigeria’s total foreign earnings in 2019. Strengthening agricultural exports could pay macroeconomic dividends by reducing Nigerian dependence on foreign exchange from exporting oil to fickle international markets. But energy poverty applies friction across the entire agricultural value chain, increasing costs and decreasing quality of agricultural products and hampering export potential.

 

Overcoming Agricultural Energy Challenges

In our experiences with small- and medium-sized agribusinesses, the lack of consistent electricity is cited as one of the foremost challenges to smooth business operations. The World Bank reports that getting access to electricity ranks as one of the major constraints for the private sector in Nigeria. Innovation to increase energy efficiency, supply reliable power, and maximize income is required to improve the livelihoods of agribusiness entrepreneurs.

For Habibu Lawal, a rice miller in Kaduna State, the status quo is costly. He spends $12/day on diesel alone to operate his old, inefficient rice mill. He estimates that the aging motor takes another $12/month to service and repair. Worse still, the outdated one-stage mill shatters a significant portion of the rice grains as the bran and husk are removed, reducing the amount of salable milled rice for every kilogram of raw paddy rice he feeds into the machine.

A new two-stage electric rice mill could cut operating costs by roughly 10% at a $0.60/kWh tariff while increasing the yield of milled rice by 20%–30% and improving the quality of his final product. But without access to financing or reliable electricity in his community, the noisy, unreliable, and expensive diesel-powered machine is Mr. Lawal’s only option.

Despite the clear opportunity, rural electrification and agricultural activities are not tightly integrated. Why? One reason is that agricultural value chains are complex, and there are myriad ways that electricity can be used in them. Should minigrid electricity heat dryers or turn flour mills or chill freezers? Which of these options is the best place to start?

new study by the USAID Power Africa Nigeria Power Sector Program, led by RMI and conducted in partnership with Sahel Consulting, answers these questions by identifying:

  • the most promising agricultural productive uses to electrify,
  • how these opportunities can be sustained through commercial business models, and
  • the strategies stakeholders can use to overcome barriers to deployment.

 

The Most Promising Agricultural Productive Uses to Electrify

We analyzed 12 crop value chains across Nigeria’s Kaduna and Cross River states, using more than 250 field interviews with farmers, processors, and traders in over 40 rural communities. We also conducted an extensive literature review and discussions with sector experts. Activities with the most potential for immediate electrification demonstrated local capacity to conduct the processing, existing markets for the product, availability of electric processing equipment in Nigeria, and scalability. Considering these factors, prospective activities were classified into three tiers:

  • Tier 1, immediately ready for deployment
  • Tier 2, strong medium-term potential with support to overcome one or more barriers
  • Tier 3, longer-term potential if additional barriers are addressed

The figure below rates each activity on each criterion, summarizing detailed analysis of each value chain and evaluating the viability of electrifying processing activities from farm gate to final consumer.

Exhibit 1: Combinations of processing activities and value chains analyzed, including tier rankings and scoring summaries across four evaluation criteria.

Cassava grating, grain flour milling, and rice milling are three clear Tier 1 activities primed for immediate electrification and deployment in Nigerian minigrids. Each of these can be electrified at scale in existing minigrids today, with little to no market development support. For example, most minigrid-suitable communities in rural Nigeria already host small grain flour millers who convert maize, sorghum, cowpea, soybean, and other local crops into flours and meals used to make staple foods. These mills are fossil-fuel powered, typically utilizing antiquated combustion engines as the prime mover. For example, multi-crop electric flour mills could be operated using the skills that local millers already have, to serve a preexisting local offtake market, using domestically manufactured electrical appliances, at countrywide scale.

 

The Business Case for Investment

Further, there is a clear business case for investment by processors in electric equipment for Tier 1 activities, all of which can be paid back within two years. Our analysis shows that these productive loads also significantly improve minigrid economics by consuming surplus solar power during Nigeria’s sunny afternoon hours. In the scenario with the most productive use adoption (nine cassava graters, 12 flour mills, and five rice mills), the increased electricity sales volume decreased the electricity price required to recoup the minigrid investment by 19%.

 

Exhibit 2: Load profiles for a simulated solar-hybrid minigrid at vary levels of productive use adoption.

Synchronizing agricultural processing with minigrid electricity can improve livelihoods, enhance the financial viability of rural electrification, and reduce electricity prices for consumers. And these opportunities are not limited to Nigeria, as RMI’s ongoing work in Ethiopia, A2EI’s recent research in Tanzania, and Power For All‘ s #PoweringAg campaign clearly show. But breaking the status quo of asynchronous agricultural development and electrification will require significant changes.

 

Strategies for Stakeholders

First, cross-sectoral collaboration between agriculture and energy stakeholders will be indispensable. Today, there is little coordination between actors and projects, leaving most minigrid developers to figure out agricultural productive use on their own, with very little connection to the experts leading the agricultural development efforts occurring in parallel throughout Nigeria. Collaboration can scale and deepen impact. For instance, livestock nutrition programs that increase cow milk productivity will be more successful if paired with cold chain infrastructure that ensures excess dairy makes it to market. This collaboration can be expanded across national borders to replicate best practices.

Second, commercial business models must connect the appliance buyer to affordable credit and reliable power. Our report proposes three different business models that can be used to deploy and scale Tier 1 and Tier 2 productive use activities by addressing financing gaps.

Third, we must learn by doing, and by listening. The history of development spending is rife with well-intentioned interventions that failed to benefit the people they aimed to serve. Pilot projects in advance of widespread deployment can test whether electrical appliances are functional and meet processor and customer needs. Pilots can also provide data on the compatibility of equipment with minigrid hardware, and on the electricity consumption patterns of productive use customers. This data can further demonstrate the financial viability of these investments to inform prospective lenders’ risk perception.

Nigeria’s federal government understands this need. The Rural Electrification Agency is now launching productive use pilots through the Nigerian Electrification Project with the African Development Bank and World Bank. Further, as SEforALL advocates, there is an opportunity to incorporate direct links between electrification and small-holder agriculture in COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The opportunities for electrification in Nigeria have never been brighter. Energy access technologies are poised to deploy at breakneck speed with dramatic cost reductions in sight, and are receiving attention from government, development partners, and the private sector. However, it is essential that distributed energy resources are coupled with business models that boost local livelihoods by using electricity to address pressing unmet needs in agricultural value chains. Pairing productive use and rural electrification with an effective deployment strategy will unlock local economic development and can serve as a springboard toward realizing the mission of rural electrification.

 

Note: This article first appeared on USAID’s Facebook Page, view here

 

 

Source: https://rmi.org/electrifying-nigerian-agriculture-with-clean-minigrids-to-improve-livelihoods/

https://www.sun-connect-news.org/articles/market/details/electrifying-nigerian-agriculture-with-clean-minigrids-to/

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Solar Energy News Solar Power Solar Projects

Yemen’s ‘microgrid girls’ power community amid war and COVID-19

Yemen’s ‘microgrid girls’ power community amid war and COVID-19

A women-run solar station near the front line in Abs is empowering its owners and improving life in their community.

A woman checks batteries at the Abs solar microgrid station [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

A woman checks batteries at the Abs solar microgrid station [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

“The role of women was housework only,” laments Huda Othman Hassan, a young woman from Abs, a rural district in the north of Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia.

“Although we are educated and university graduates, we had no decision-making power and couldn’t work in any field.”

But now a new project is helping shift those norms. Last year, Othman and nine other women in Abs set up a solar microgrid, just 32km (20 miles) from the front line in a war that has killed tens of thousands and left more than 3.3 million people displaced.

The project is one of three the United Nations Development Programme helped put in place in front line off-grid communities in the country. The Abs station is the only one run entirely by women.

The other two – located in the Bani Qais district near Abs, and in the Lahij governorate in the southern part of the country – are managed by 10 young men each; 30 percent of them are people who are displaced.

Before the Abs station was built, Othman says, the high price of commercial electricity meant her community was unable to access it. “Most people used a flashlight or a five-watt bulb on a small battery,” she says.

Now, the solar microgrid provides the community with cheaper, clean, and renewable energy, while also tackling another major issue in this part of Yemen – helping women earn a stable income and gain new professional skills.

 

Abs solar microgrid co-owners repair solar panels [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

Yemen ranks at the bottom of the UN gender equality index and there are very limited work opportunities for women, especially in rural areas. 

But for the group managing this project in Abs, the work has been transformative.

“At first, they made fun of us – that we want to do men’s work. But now, our community is respecting us, as we are business owners. They come to the station and ask us if there are opportunities. Now, they want their women to participate and succeed like the microgrid girls,” says Iman Ghaleb Al-Hamli, director of the station.

“The project has built our self-reliance, confidence in participating in society and broken the red line in dealing with men,” she adds. “And we are now contributing to the family monthly budget to cover food and other necessities.”

The site of the solar microgrid project in Abs [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

Producing and selling power

Before Yemen’s war started in 2015, finding food and fuel was already a struggle. Five years on, more than 80 percent of the population needs some sort of assistance and more than half of rural communities do not have access to energy as fossil fuel prices continue to surge and embargoes make fuel even more difficult to obtain.

In addition, COVID-19, which is now rampant in Yemen, is deepening the crisis.

This is the first time in Yemen that microgrids have been introduced to both produce and sell solar power – and they are believed to be the first privately run energy sources in the country.

Before the arrival of the grids, rural communities were reliant on diesel generators – polluting, expensive and susceptible to sudden shifts in the price of fuel.

Now, these three communities have access to sustainable energy and their electricity bills have been “cut by 65 percent”, according to Arvind Kumar, the UNDP’s Yemen project manager. While diesel costs $0.42 an hour, solar energy costs only $0.02, making it more affordable for Yemenis.

 

A woman works at the Abs station [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

“Existing power plants are no longer functional in Yemen and the current energy-transportation infrastructure doesn’t extend to rural areas,” explained Kumar.

“These rural areas are the heart of Yemen’s economy where agriculture, water, public services and the local economy largely depends on fossil fuels. With no income, no jobs and oil price rising, the rural communities would always struggle to stand on their own feet. In this context, solar microgrids, which can be small or medium, are the way forward.”

In setting up its project, the UNDP provided seed grant money and trained the women in Abs and the young men in Bani Qais and Lahij to establish, manage and maintain solar microgrid businesses to bring electricity to their communities.

“I learned technical skills, such as charging batteries, connecting wires, measuring power using an Avometer, converting power from DC current to AC current and checking the capacity in KW,” says Amena Yahya Dawali, a technical officer at the Abs station.

The women’s 20-day training also covered business skills and finance, in addition to four days of orientation on a microgrid model. The project is also supported by the European Union and implemented by the Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) and CARE International.

A woman works at the Abs station [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

Community benefit

In Abs, the microgrid has improved life for the wider community.

“In my community, we used to go to sleep at seven o’clock in the evening. Now, we can accomplish many tasks at night,” Ghaleb says.

“There is a woman who sold one of her sheep and bought a sewing machine and now, she can do sewing in her home at night after her children sleep.”

Climate innovation charity Ashden awarded the project the 2020 Ashden Award for Humanitarian Energy. “Local NGOs thought the project would face huge challenges because it is highly technical and these women had never done anything remotely similar,” a spokesperson for the charity said.

“They said that if you are going to put this very expensive equipment in the hands of people who have never done that, it could be over within four months. But now more than a year on, the grid is still working, generating energy and incomes, and nothing has been stolen or vandalised. The community sees the benefits of it and protects it.”

The other two micro-grid stations are also functioning at full capacity, providing energy to commercial shops. Across all three solar microgrids, electricity sold by the project’s 30 owners has helped 70 times as many people. Some 2,100 people gained disposable income as they were able to start income-generating activities, such as sewing, welding, selling groceries and setting up commercial shops. Including those using the services and visiting the shops, approximately 10,000 people made indirect gains from sustainable energy in the three communities.

 

A woman checks the metres at the Abs station [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]

“The most revealing part of this initiative is to see beneficiaries no longer vulnerable and dependent on humanitarian aid as they now have a sustainable way to generate income, whereas, in other humanitarian interventions in Yemen, it is hard to find such evidence,” Kumar said.

These projects are even more important now that COVID-19 is spreading across the country.

“As we fight back against COVID-19, an already strained healthcare system, economy and society have been stretched to new limits,” said Auke Lootsma, UNDP’s Yemen resident representative. “If we want to meet the demand for power across these sectors, we need to continue building bold on-grid and off-grid decentralised energy solutions, and promote these solutions amongst development partners, private sector actors and international financial institutions.”

The next step for the programme is to secure funding from the private sector and microfinance institutions to build up to 100 additional microgrids in remote areas of the country, in order to keep schools and hospitals open during the conflict and the pandemic. The UNDP is also planning to pilot projects transforming waste into energy and desalination based on the same microgrid business model.

“The future is promising,” says Ghaleb. “Our dream has been fulfilled with this first station, and now we aspire to cover the entire region.”

The ‘microgrid girls’ alongside solar panels at the project in Abs [Photo courtesy of SDF YEMEN]
SOURCE : AL JAZEERA
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/18/amid-war-and-covid-19-yemeni-rural-women-set-up-solar-microgrid
Categories
Solar Energy News

In Nigeria, citizens pay more for darkness than electricity

12.10.2020, Niyi Oyedeji

THE anger and frustration on Adelana Martins’ face are unmistakable – there is a power outage just about the time he wants to iron his clothes.

The power failure has thwarted his plan to appear at work by 2 pm in crispy uniform. Yet, he dares not appear in office in mufti, and he cannot be absent from duty without prior notice or a genuine reason.

Martins, 47, and a resident of Igbusi community of Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, like many others in the community agonize daily on the epileptic power supply from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).

IBEDC is one of the eleven private companies licensed by the Nigerian Government to distribute power to customers since the privatisation of what used to be Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in September 2013.

He was visibly agitated not only about the epileptic power supply in his community but also the ‘crazy bills’ that IBEDC charges even for the poor service.

“We have not had light for two hours in the last 24 hours and we don’t even know when next they would restore it,” Martins says, as he looks forlorn at his wrinkled uniform on a pressing table.

“It can be like this for the next three days, yet they would bring a humongous bill for us to settle at the end of the month,” he adds.

Nigeria currently generates about 4000MW which is insufficient for the consumption of about 200million of its population. According to USAID in a report, Nigeria, the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to generate 12,522 megawatts (MW) of electric power from existing plants because of its huge endowment in oil, gas, hydro and solar resources.

Martins and other residents in his shoes pay as much as N10,000 estimated bills at the end of every month for electricity supply, which according to him, they “never enjoyed.”

“We only pay for darkness,” he says.

Like Martins, Folarin Gbadamosi , who runs a barbing shop in Oke-Ijebu area of Akure, Ondo State, southwest Nigeria decries the high power bill that does not reflect the electricity consumption in his area.

“They only give us power for about four hours out of the 24 hours in a day, yet we pay N8,000 bill every month,” Gbadamosi laments.

The alternative power source which is a small generating set known among locals as “I pass my neighbour” is also not sustainable because of the daily cost of fuelling it. The dismal supply of electricity in the area threatens the survival of his barbing business.

“This electricity no longer favours me, I will soon disconnect myself from it to concentrate on powering my shop with a generator, says the barber angrily “

Tariffs amidst poor power generation, distribution and COVID-19 pandemic

Power generation and distribution have been two major challenges confronting Nigeria’s power sector, despite being the largest economy in Africa. Its generation has not gone beyond 4,000MW while poor distribution is the reason the government cited recently to announce tariffs hike.

Nigerians on September 1, woke up to a 100 percent increment on the electricity tariff plan, a surge that caught many people unaware.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) suddenly increased the light bill known as electricity tariff from 30.23 Naira for one kwh (kilowatt unit of energy per hour) to as much as 62.33 Naira per kwh.

The NERC is primarily to regulate the tariff of power generating companies owned or controlled by the government, and any other generating company which has a license for power generation and transmission of energy, and distribution of electricity.

Explaining his plight with the recent increment, Abiodun Olusoji, a resident of Chika area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city says the increment in the electricity tariff does not only caught him unaware but would make life difficult for him as a worker with a private organisation.

“It’s like the government is out to make life difficult for us in this country, despite the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled so many businesses, the government still deemed it fit to increase the electricity and fuel price now,” Olusoji said.

Victoria Dennis, a resident of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria who is also dissatisfied with the recent increment in the electricity tariffs stated that the unit of power she bought recently was sold at a double amount, an increment she said would affect her cost of living.

“I went to buy electricity yesterday for our prepaid meter and I could only get a 25-kilowatt unit for 1,500 when I could have gotten like a 60-kilowatt unit for the same amount.”

Despite the increase in Nigeria’s electricity tariff, an outrageous number of the country’s population still lack access to electricity,

Bloomberg reported that an average home in Nigeria gets national grid power for about nine hours daily, which could be worse in some communities and homes.

The World Bank noted that only 57 percent of the country’s 200 million population have access to electricity.

While just 31 percent of people living in the country’s rural areas have access to electricity, the 82 percent of people living in the urban areas who have access to electricity still usually experience persistent power outages.

Infographics on Access to Electricity in Nigeria by Niyi Oyedeji

Bridging the gap with sustainable solutions

In a bid to solve the country’s power problem, Nigeria’s Government has so far spent over N1.7 trillion on the country’s power sector in the last three years but had little or no impact on the already privatized sector.

Meanwhile, so many recommendations made towards salvaging the country’s energy crisis hinged on exploring renewable energy potentials.

Alice Adedayo, Principal consultant at African Energy Advocacy Initiative noted that one of the major keys to sustainable energy in Nigeria is to decentralise energy generation for communities that are off the national grid, adding that such efforts can be made through the use of renewable energy solutions such as bioenergy, solar and wind energy to power underserved communities.

“The government should also ensure full operationalisation of Feed-in Tariff, which allows private companies to send excess energy generated from other energy sources into the national grid, hence the need for policy harmonization across complementary ministries in the power sector value chain,” she said.

On her own part, Yetunde Fadeyi, founder of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability Initiative for Africa (REES Africa) noted that even though access to energy is fundamental for socio-economic development and poverty eradication but the country needs to do more in diversification and exploration of sustainable energy sources to ensure problems surrounding energy access is solved.

“There is a need for scenarios that ultimately include the hybridization, exploitation and promotion of renewable energy resources, energy efficiency practices, as well as the application of energy conservation measures in various sectors,” Fadeyi recommends.

“There is also a need for favourable policy intervention and incentives to further drive access to power significantly for the pro-poor and encourage low carbon decentralization instead of the use of dirty fossil fuels.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also noted that improving the power sector is critical to addressing development challenges in Nigeria.

Oluwaseyi Falaye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Econergco limited, who stated that the carbon emissions in the country remain on the upward trajectory because of the continuous intensive use of fossil fuel-powered electricity due to erratic power supply from the national grid stressed the need for advancement in sustainable energy technologies.

“The advancement in sustainable energy technologies like energy storage, smart grid solutions, continue falls in the cost of solar power and energy storage, and renewable energy sources in the country serve as an impetus for solving the energy crisis in the country sustainably,” Falaye states.

“The renewable sources in Nigeria are estimated to worth over 500 gigawatts of power and that includes; about 500 gigawatts from solar energy, over 15 gigawatts from hydropower, while wind and bioenergy are estimated to have the capacity to provide 10 gigawatts of clean, green, and sustainable power but for Nigeria to enjoy reliable electricity supply through sustainable power sources there is a need for the government to provide an enabling environment and fiscal regime to attract foreign direct investment for renewable energy projects development,” he said.

Source: https://www.icirnigeria.org/special-report-in-nigeria-citizens-pay-more-for-darkness-than-electricity/

Categories
Solar Energy News

Energy Savings Tips.

It is no longer news that electricity tariff was hiked by between 50% and 100% depending on the location.

It was reported that the new tariff is also a function of hours of availability of electricity 😃.

The first step is to identify the biggest energy consuming appliances in your home. A typical home gives the following consumption pattern:

1. Air Conditioning and Heating- 46%
2. Water Heating- 14%
3. Appliances (Fridge, Washing Machine etc) -13%
4. Lighting: 9%
3. Other Appliances -13%

If you can also invest in renewable energy, Solar is a good one, we have good sunshine and this can be converted to energy. Cost? Yes the initial cost is high, but in the long run, it is a great investment. Get off the grid periodically and save yourself some money.

Anyway, let us share some tips on how and ways you can save energy and pay less bill.

1. Use daylight ☀️☀️as much as possible. Energy saved in the daytime can be used at night.

2. Use fan instead of Air Conditioners where possible 😉

3. Switch off your Air Conditioners when leaving the room…at least for 15 mins. Yes, switch it off . I will even suggest you set your Air Conditioners mode to Auto and set to room temperature.

4. Each LED Bulb you install can save a lot of money over its lifetime. Always switch off light when not in use.

5. Switch off Fridge/Freezer when empty. Better still, if the supply in your area is constant, put the deep freezer off at night or during the day – 12 hourly. You’ll save a lot.🤷‍♂️

6. Do not put hot or warm food straight into the Fridge/Freezer.

7. Use Electric Kettle to Boil Water instead of Electric Cooker. E get why o 😉

8. Iron clothing in bulk and not in small quantities at a time. While at it, put off your fridge and freezer for the period.

9. Do not leave water heater on for too long. Make sure your water heater has a good thermostat.

10. It is cheaper to cook with natural gas than electric cooker.

11. Use heating appliances with functional thermostats. You know why? To regulate the appliances.

12. Keep doors and windows shut when Air Conditioners are in operation.

13. Defrost your freezer regularly to keep it running efficiently.

14. Unplug any devices or appliances not in use at any point.

15. Put off the freezer, fridge, electric kettle and electric cooker while the pumping machine is on. U save a lot thereby.

The list is inexhaustible. However, discipline is key. You must set measurable rules in your home and violators must be sanctioned 😀

By the way I got some of these tips from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, website. So visit the site for more.

Categories
Uncategorized

‘Manufacturers In Nigeria Spent Over N67.38bn On Self-Generated Electricity In 2019’

BUSINESS NEWS

The president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ahmed Mansur has stated that over N67.38 billion was spent by members to generate electricity off the national grid, so as to keep their businesses going in 2019.

Making the disclosure on Thursday in Lagos at a media briefing held after the association’s 48th Annual General Meeting, Mansur stated that the issue of power had become a huge challenge for operators in the sector since energy cost has continued to take a huge chunk of the production cost.

According to him, in the period under review, energy cost accounted for over 38 per cent of the sector’s production cost.

“Besides, inadequate electricity supply and incessant increases in tariff without a commensurate improvement in generation, transmission and distribution also remain key challenges being faced by members in the sector,” he stated.

Describing the performance of the nation’s economy, so far in 2020, as “fragile and slowly sliding into recession,” as a result of the public health crisis facing the whole world, Mansur called for more proactive initiatives from the Federal Government to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the sector.

“The downward movement of key economic indicators reinforced the need for more proactive initiatives against reactive initiatives.

“For instance, while the aggregated economy recorded a positive growth as indicated by an increase in real national output to 2.39 per cent in 2019 from 0.81 per cent in 2018, manufacturing sector growth plunged significantly to 0.77 per cent in 2019 from 2.09 per cent recorded in 2018 (NBS). 

“The dwindling manufacturing performance was substantiated by capacity utilization in the sector which slowed to 56.8 per cent in 2019 from 57.8 per cent achieved in 2018.

“This shows that the sector is still in need of a comprehensive and integrated support system from the government,” he argued.

Mansur also tasked the Federal Government to intervene on the issue of foreign exchange, noting that forex sourcing for the importation of raw materials, machinery and spares, not available locally, was becoming increasingly difficult for the nation’s manufacturers. 

The MAN boss also lamented the huge inventory of unsold finished manufactured products, that had risen to an all-time high of about N402.4 billion. He stated that the development had gone a long way in confirming the reality that the disposable income of the average Nigerian consumer had been grossly eroded.

He described the numerous, oftentimes duplication of demands from the tiers of government in form of taxes, levies, fees and permits, which the nation’s manufacturers still contend with, as a major challenge hindering growth in the sector.

“Manufacturing companies are continually overwhelmed with multiple regulations from different regulatory agencies and excessive drive for revenue by government agencies. And this has continued to be a major disincentive to the nation’s manufacturing sector,” he noted.

‘Manufacturers in Nigeria spent over N67.38bn on self-generated electricity in 2019’